Happy Healthy Long Life

Yogurt's Back in the House - Non-Dairy, Plant-Based, Vegan, Homemade & Sugar-Free (Mostly)

 

The Cuisinart Electronic Yogurt Maker with Automatic Cooling

 

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"Medical researchers are coming around to the startling conclusion that, in order to be healthy, people need more exposure to microbes, not less; and that one of the problems with the so-called Western diet--besides all the refined carbohydrates and fats and novel chemicals in it--is the absence from it of LIVE-CULTURE foods.

The theory is that these foods have a crucial role to play in nourishing the vast community of microbes living inside us, which in turn plays a much larger role in our overall health & well-being than we ever realized.  Bacteria-free food may be making us sick."   

 

- Michael Pollan, "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" -

 

Gut Bugs are My New Best Friends - BFF's

 

No fair.  Whole Soy & Co.'s Plain Unsweetened Yogurt came into my life suddenly last Spring.  I fell in love, & before I knew it, he had disappeared without so much as a good-bye or explanation.   He had arrived in March, by June he was gone.  His disappearance left a huge hole in my heart---uh, I mean my tummy.

I missed our easy breakfasts together.  Our delicious savory Mediterranean lunches, mixed with tamari-roasted chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, red peppers & fresh dill.  Our salads were a dinner delight - topped with Thousand Island Dressing.  He had become "my main manna", my go-to-guy, turning into everything I wanted him to be.  

I even went so far as to go public with the "new manna" in my life in "My New Manna - Plain Unsweetened Soy Yogurt is a Game-Changing Recipe Changer!  Viva the Possibilities!"

The medical journal literature is fermenting with research on why yogurt is so good for us (& our kids), and the newly emerging research on the benefits of nourishing our gut microbiome has taken off.  

Just because you've ditched the dairy, & said "no" to sweetened non-dairy yogurts, doesn't mean you can no longer enjoy thick creamy yogurt.  There really is another way.  Make your own!

For a layman's tour on the benefits of cultivating a healhty colony of gut bacteria, check out Michael Pollan's May 15, 2013 NYT Sunday Magazine article, "Some of My Best Friends are Germs"

Or give a quick listen to this fascinating 7-minute Public Radio Take-Away interview on "Why Bacteria Can Be Good For Us"   

"Some of the newest scientific research points to the benefits of the bacteria that live inside all of us. It turns out that bacteria can play a critical role in fighting obesity, diabetes and infections and it can also help keep our immune systems strong."  (The Take-Away, August 22, 2013)

 

 

 

 

 

Where Did "My Manna" Mr. Whole Soy Go & Would He Ever Return?

 

Long story short.  Production problems at WholeSoy & Co.  The company thought it could quickly find a new place to rent for its yogurt-making.  When that didn't work, they decided to build a new plant.  Here's the Whole "WholeSoy & Co." story.  Not into "making your own yogurt?  No worries.  Looks like they'll return in late October or early November.  In the meantime, I've made other plans.  

I've met a "New Manna".  I'm making my own and preferring the "new guy".  He's so much better.  There's no comparison.

 

 

Empowered by Home Fermentation - Homemade Yogurt, My Way

 

"Thousands of years on, we still haven't discovered techniques for processing food as powerful, versatile, safe, or nutritious as microbial fermentation."

- Michael Pollan, "Cooked" -

 

I'd already been thinking about making my own yogurt before WholeSoy & Co. stopped production. But, when they suddenly disappeared & "who knew when they'd return", I started researching the easiest way to make my own.

Thanks to the help of the savvy readers of my Facebook page I discovered "Cultures for Health", which makes a vegan yogurt culture (who knew there was such a thing?), chock full of all kinds of good live bacteria:  Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Streptococcus thermophilus. (excuse any spelling errors)

Read all about the vegan yogurt culture here.  It's a direct-set culture, which means that it is a one-time-use culture and cannot be recultured (i.e., perpetuated beyond the single batch). Direct-set cultures require no maintenance or care. Simply store the packets in the refrigerator or freezer and use the necessary portion for your recipe when it's time to make yogurt.

1 box of vegan yogurt culture contains 8 packets of culture.  Each packet is used to make 1-2 quarts of yogurt.  I use 1 packet to make 1 quart of yogurt at a time.  $1.12 per quart.  To save $$ I bought multiple boxes--but, don't overbuy.  The expiration date for mine is 4/14.

 

What makes a yogurt culture vegan??

 A vegan culture is "grown" on a vegan medium, unlike regular yogurt cultures, which are grown on dairy. This culture is made specifically to work with NON-DAIRY MILK.  It's made to work best with soy or rice milk.  Almond milk, "Cultures for Health" tells me, can be tricky.

 

Which non-dairy milks work best?

• Use Soy Milk with as little additives as possible:  EdenSoy or WestSoy, original or unsweetened will work well.  "Cultures for Health" recommended the addition of 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of a sweetener (I used maple syrup) when using UNSWEETENED soy milk to give the bacteria something to feed upon.  NOTE 1/11/14:  No need to add any sweeteners to unsweetened soy milk.  It ferments with or without.  Your choice.
• I prefer Organic EdenSoy Unsweetened.  Just purified water & organic soybeans.  It has the highest protein--12 grams.  It also has the highest amount of fat, 6 grams per serving, but it makes a thick & creamy yogurt.  The higher the fat content, the thicker the yogurt.
• I plan to experiment with EdenSoy Enriched with contains calcium, B12, D2, etc.   UPDATE 1/11/14:  EdenSoy Enriched produces a less rich, not-as-thick yogurt, compared to EdenSoy Unsweetened.  EdenSoy Enriched also has a slightly orangey/yellow color, less aesthetically pleasing color.  Advantage of EdenSoy Enriched is its added calcium + other minerals & vitamins that make it equivalent to the nutrititional content of dairy milk.  I plan to experiment with just adding some powdered calcium citrate into the EdenSoy Unsweetened.  NOW brand makes powdered calcium citrate.
• I've been successful with both the original organic Edensoy & original organic Westsoy--no extra sweeteners are needed with these, because they contain some already.  UPDATE 1/11/14:  I've discovered that even the EdenSoy Unsweetened needs no added sweeteners to properly ferment.
• Rice milk will work, according to "Cultures for Health".   I have not tried this.
• According to the "Cultures for Health" staff person I spoke with, turning ALMOND MILK into yogurt can be trickier, fussier & would likely require more thickeners to get a good texture.  I do plan to experiment & report back.  No idea how oat, hazelnut, cashew, flax, or hemp milks will work.  Lots to test out.
• Read more tips on thickening yogurt here.

 

 

 

A interesting word about Lactobacillus rhamnosus:   Notice that it's one of the bacteria strains in this culture:

 

"A recent study performed in Ireland found that introducing a certain probiotic species found in some fermented foods to the diet of mice had a measurable effect on their stress levels & mood, altering levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.

Precisely how the presence of a certain bacterium in the gut might affect mental function is unclear, yet the researchers found they could block the effect by severing the vagus nerve that links the gut to the brain."   (pg. 328, Pollan.  "Cooked" 2013.)

 

And lo & behold, a similar finding was recently reported in a new study on women eating yogurt.  Humans, not mice!  Eating yogurt regularly appears to reduce stress & anxiety.  No promises, but still....  Read the actual study here.

 

Let the Yogurt-Making Begin

 

 

 My First Attempt - Oops, Didn't Heat It Long Enough to Thicken - Kefir-Like, But Yummy

 

I was kind of clueless with my first attempt--and I "missed" the instruction to let it thicken on the stove-top after adding a slurry of soy milk & cornstarch.  I got a thinner kefir-like yogurt.  Tasty, but not what I was expecting.

 

Yogurt Success - Thick, Creamy, Delicious

 

My Yogurt Maker:  The Cuisinart Electronic Yogurt Maker with Automatic Cooling  $129.00 free shipping

Other Yogurt Maker possibilities:

• The Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker - makes yogurt in individual cups  $39.99.  Very popular.
• The Yogotherm Yogurt Incubator - A reliable way to make yogurt without electricity. 2 quart capacity.  $39.95
• Find out more about yogurt-makers, here  Sorry, I have no personal experience with either of these yogurt makers
• Some readers told me of mixed success making yogurt in a slow-cooker, or in a crock that was well wrapped in insulation & then placed in an oven that was preheated & then turned off.

 

 

Reader BW recently wrote to me to say:

 

I used the oven method, however, being cheap and hoping not to have to buy another piece of equipment. I preheated the oven to 150 degrees for 15 minutes then turned it off, but turned the oven light on. I poured my yogurt into a heavy crock-like bowl with a lid, wrapped it in bubble wrap and a thin silver insulating sheet which I happened to have on hand, then placed it in the oven for exactly 8 hrs. Voila! Perfect consistency, delicious taste. It's now in the fridge to stop the fermentation, can't wait 'til breakfast.

Thank you so very much, I am thrilled and glad you now have yogurt, as well. One of these days I will have to order the Heart Thrive treats to crumble on top. Take care, have a great week!

 

 

Note on yogurt & temperatures:  "Cultures for Health" says to incubate yogurt at 108 degrees for 6-8 hours until set.  I've been fermenting mine for 8 hours.  Just saying.  Cooling starts after fermentation, & it is a necessary part of the complete process.  My Cuisinart automatically brings the yogurt down to 43-52 degrees Fahrenheit (6-11 degrees Celsius) after cooling for 8-12 hours.

 

Instructions for making yogurt without a yogurt maker, including, making it in your oven.

 

Why I like the Cuisinart:  

• It makes all the yogurt in one storeable BPA-free container that holds from 4-6 cups of yogurt.  
• It's easier to pour the milk into 1 large container than into individual 8 ounce cups.  I'm "pouring-challenged".
• It's easier to clean just one container than 6-8 small ones.
• You set the yogurt maker to ferment for 6-8 hours, & when fermentation is over, it automatically starts to chill the yogurt--which is an important part of the process.  You can go to sleep, go to work, whatever, & know that the yogurt will keep chilling until you are ready to put it into the refrigerator.  You don't have to hang around.

 

 

One Tub - When It's Done It Goes Right Into the Fridge with Its Cover

 

Equipment/Ingredients needed:

• A candy themomter to measure the temperature of the milk.  It needs to heat up to about 150 degrees to thicken it with a cornstarch slurry. You DO NOT want it to get over 180 degrees. After it thickens, it needs to cool down to just under 110 degrees before you can add the culture. Any higher--& you'll kill the culture. (118 degrees I think is the "kill zone")
• A narrowish whisk  (or a "whisker" as my grandson call it)
• A 2-4 cup liquid measuring cup.
• A saucepan that holds 4-6 cups of milk for heating up the milk. One with a spout is a plus.
• A 4 cup container of soy milk or rice milk with as few added ingredients as possible.  
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of sweetener (I use maple syrup--2 tsp.) when using milk with zero-added sweeteners.  It helps to feed the bacteria.  UPDATE 1/11/14:  I've STOPPED adding any sweetener to my EdenSoy Unsweeted Soy Milk.  It doesn't appear to be necessary at all! Yogurt comes out fine without it.
• UPDATE 1/11/14 (I've increased the cornstarch for a thicker yogurt):  3-1/2 tablespoons of organic non-GMO cornstarch (regular works, too) per 4 cups of milk for thickening.  (orginal recipe used 3 tablespoons)  See recipe below for instructions.  
• Alternate thickeners:  Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of agar (a vegan seaweed that works like a gelatin) into 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil & cool before adding to 4 cups of milk.  Allow mixture to cool down to under 110 degrees before adding to the milk.   More agar might be desired for a thicker yogurt.  Experiment.  Agar thickens when it cools down.  Everything you ever wanted to know about thickening yogurt can be found here.

 

Thickening the Yogurt with a Cornstarch- Soy Milk Slurry - Cooling to 105-110 Degrees

 

The Best Yogurt Recipe from Reader Lori S.

 

A big thank-you to my "yogurt mentor & guide", Lori S.  I couldn't have done it without you.  You paved the way! 

Servings:  4

Preparation Time:  12 minutes + time to cool the milk down to 105 to 110 degrees

Fermentation Time:  8 hours at 108 degrees (the Cuisinart takes all the guess work out of the process)

Cooling Time:  8-12 hours

Total start to finish yogurt time:  from 17-21 hours

 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of organic soy milk  (EdenSoy or WestSoy)  I use the boxes.  *see above for alternative milks
• 3-1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch UPDATE 1/11/14 (I've increased the cornstarch from 3 tablespoons to 3-1/2 tablespoons for a thicker yogurt)
• UPDATE 1/11/14:  NO NEED FOR ANY SWEETENER with unsweetened soy milk.                  (original recipe)  2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of maple syrup ONLY if you're using unsweetened soy milk.  *I've made it successfully without any sweetener.
• 1 packet vegan yogurt culture (From Cultures for Health)

Instructions:

1.  Pour 1 1/2 cups of milk (straight from a room temperature tetra box) into a saucepan and start heating it.  Keep the temperature around medium.  You DO NOT WANT THE TEMPERATURE TO GO OVER 150-180 degrees.  

2.  Pour 1/2 cup of the room temperature milk into a measuring cup and whisk in 3-1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch until dissovled well. 

3.  Once the milk in the saucepan starts to steam a bit, whisk in the cornstarch mixture, and continue to heat and whisk until you start to get some thickening, similar to a light gravy or sauce.  I wait until it thickens like a pudding, with some little bubbles around the edges, but not a full boil!  Do not bring to a boil.  This is the longest part of the process.  Maybe 5-7 minutes.

4.  Remove the pan from the heat, whisk in the rest of the carton of milk (2 cups), and let the whole pan rest until the temp comes down to at least 110 degrees.  I usually wait until it's at 105 degrees, to be on the safe side. 

SPEED COOLING TIP (updated 11/06/13 & 1/11/14): 

METHOD 1: I now "speed cool" my saucepan of soymilk to quickly get it down to 105 degrees, by placing the saucepan into a bowl of cold water,  just high enough so the "hot" bottom can cool off. I keep it in the cold water only for a few minutes, & then let it finish cooling down on the counter.  Once the bottom of the saucepan has "speed cooled", it takes only about 5-7 minutes for the whole saucepan to reach about 105-110 degrees.

METHOD 2: I pour the UNHEATED 2 cups of remaining milk into the Cuisinart container.  When the cornstarch-thickened milk has reached the right consistency on the stove, pour it directly into the Cuisinart container with the unheated milk.  Whisk well.  This speed cools the milk.  Wait until the mixture cools to between 105-110 degrees before adding the culture.  (updated 1/11/14)

5. When the milk has cooled to 105-110 degrees, pour it into the yogurt-making container BEFORE you whisk in your starter (Vegan Yogurt culture from “Cultures for Health”).  This insures that ALL the culture makes it into the yogurt-maker.  Set the Cuisinart yogurt maker for 8 hours of fermentation.  It's a good idea to check how things are going at around 6 hours. 

6.  After the 8 hours, the Cuisinart starts chilling automatically (or after whatever number of hours you set for fermentation to last)   The chilling is an important part of the whole process.  Chill for 8-12 hours.  This can be done in the fridge, too, but, I let the Cuisinart chill for 8 hours & then I put the yogurt in the fridge. 

7.  It’s nice & thick (& gets thicker the longer it’s in the fridge).  Very creamy, & to me, it’s better tasting than WholeSoy& Co. But, that’s me. 

*You can also thicken the yogurt with agar or pectin.  But,  for now, I’m happy with the cornstarch.  For more information on thickening agents click here.  Also, note, the higher the fat in the milk, the thicker the yogurt.  

I know I have a lot more to learn, and more experiments to try out.  I really feel strangely empowered by making my own yogurt, & I'm intrigued by all the other fermentation possibilities available on "Culture for Health".

 

Good Luck!  Enjoy!  And Happy Yogurt-Making Everyone!

Please Report Your New Findings.  We're all now non-dairy yogurt scientists, sharing our data.  

I see a new journal that needs to be published:  The International Journal of Non-Dairy Yogurt-Making

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Night Dinner & a Movie. "Enlightened Bulgur with Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Feta", My New Love Affair with Whole Soy & Company's Plain Unsweetened Yogurt, Kale Chips-at-the-Movies, and the French Film "The Other Son"

 

Martha Rose Shulman's Bulgur with Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Feta 

 

Last Night's  "Enlightened" Bulgur with Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Feta 

 

If you received this post via email or you're viewing it on a smartphone, click here, to get to the web version with all the links, the video & to leave a comment.  I LOVE & appreciate comments!!

 

I first tried Martha Rose Shulman's "Bulgur with Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Feta" three years.  It was an instant winner at our house.  I was easily able to ditch the olive oil--but ditching the feta cheese is another story.  I anxiously await the arrival of a reasonably-priced plant-milk feta!  It won't be long, don't you think?

I tried the recipe with a homemade feta made with tofu.  Meh!  I tried to convince myself it was a fine substitute.  It wasn't.

I tried the recipe with the Tree of Life's Smoked Tofu.  Again, it was Meh!

So, this is one of those "3 or 4" times a year I choose to enjoy this dish the way it's meant to be made--with feta (even if I do use the reduced-fat kind).  

OK--I know many of you may disapprove, or be "tsk tsk tsking".  But, I LOVE this easy-to-make tasty dish. I'm perfectly comfortable enjoying my less-than-an-ounce of feta cheese 3 or 4 times a year. The last time I made it was in November.

 

Gorgeous Swiss Chard at the Grocery Yesterday

 

I couldn't resist the giant leaves of organic Swiss Chard at the grocery store yesterday.  Dinner!

Aha!  The perfect occasion for "Enlightened Swiss Chard, Chickpeas & Feta".  I snagged a 3.5 ounce package of reduced-fat feta from the cheese display, & some fresh dill weed.  Chickpeas & bulgur are pantry staples.  Didn't need any more.

So, there you have it.  My occasional treat.  And the Lab Rat & I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.  I can't wait for the left-overs for lunch today.

Find the recipe on one page here

 

 

 

 

The Salad Course with Soy Yogurt Thousand Island Dressing

 

 

If you've been reading my Face Book page  (& I sure hope you are--because that's where I'm mostly posting these days) you know I've gone absolutely Ga Ga over Whole Soy & Company's Plain Unsweetened Yogurt.

It's become kind of like Manna to me.  It works as a delicious breakfast, savory-style with roasted garbanzos, herbs, & veggies---or sweet-style mixed with thawed berries, jelled with chia or sprinkled with some homemade no-oil cocoa almond cherry granola, or half of a Cranberry Heart Thrive.

You can even turn it into a thick Greek-style yogurt if you mix 1 1/2 tablespoons of chia into a cup of yogurt & let it sit for 5-10 minutes. 

It makes a hearty lunch salad when mixed with tamari-roasted rosemary chickpeas, roasted potatoes, red peppers, cukes, red pepper flakes, black pepper, dill, & lemon zest.  The seasoning & add-in options are endless.  It's like a low-fat mayo that you can flavor anyway you like.  Chipotle, Southwestern, Curried, Greek, Italian, Ranch Dressing anyone?  Maybe too tangy for an Asian variety.

 

Soy Yogurt Thousand Island Dressing

Makes 8 servings - 2 tablespoons each

Makes 1 cup of dressing or sandwich spread

Prep Time:  5 minutes

Recipe on one page is here:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup of plain unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, smashed or 1/4 teaspoon of granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon of mustard (yellow or Dijon)  I use Dijon
• 3 tablespoons of low-sodium ketchup 
• 2 tablespoons of pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped dill (or 1 teaspoon of dried dill)  More, to taste

Instructions:

1.  Mix everything together in a small bowl.  No need for a blender.  

2.  Taste, add more dill or a little salt to taste.

 

 

My New Manna - Plain Unsweetened Soy Yogurt is a Game-Changing Recipe Changer!  Viva the Possibilities!

 

Works for breakfast, lunch, as a salad dressing or as a mayo.  For tangier salad dressings, or curries--Goodbye high-fat cashew cream or silken tofu--Hello Soy Yogurt!   

No more half-used boxes of silken tofu in the fridge that I can't use up within the 2 day "throw away" date.

And don't forget the probiotic benefits of the live cultures.  L. Pantarum LM, L. Acidophilus, B Bifidum, L. Bulgaricus, & S. Thermophilus.  A minimum of 20 Billion Total CFUs per serving.

Vegan. Casein, Whey, Lactose & Gluten-Free. Organic.  Non-GMO.

Did I mention the protein?  10 grams per cup. 

Hey, folks, I never could eat dairy yogurt because of the lactose--so this is a real treat for me!

 

 

 

 The Savory Mediterranean Breakfast/Lunch Combo with Tamari-Roasted Garbanzos, Veggies, & Chia  (add Oven-Roasted Potatoes, Too)

 

Oil-Free Oven-Roasted Tamari Rosemary Garbanzos--A New Staple At My House

 

I make a double-batch of these every week to mix into my Savory Mediterranean Yogurt Breakfast/Lunch.  Add in peppers, chia, tomatoes, tiny sliced gourmet cucumbers, dill, Penzey's Lemon Zest, red pepper flakes, & fresh black pepper.  Whatever!  You won't believe how delicious & filling this is!!  Or sprinkle on salads.  Eat 'em straight-up.

Recipe for the Oil-Free Oven-Roasted Tamari Rosemary Garbanzos is here.

 

What a Breakfast!  What a Lunch!

 

 

 

Soy Yogurt with Crumbled "Fruit & Nut Manna Bread" & Chia, Of Course

 

 

Soy Yogurt with Canned Chickpeas, Cukes, Tomatoes, Peppers, Dill & Pepper

 

 

Soy Yogurt with Thawed Frozen Berries, Chia & 1/2 of a Cranberry Heart Thrive

 

Soy Yogurt with Homemade Cocoa Almond Cherry Granola & Berries

Recipe for the Cocoa Almond Cherry (or Cranberry) Granola is here.

 

 And Now for Last Night's Movie, "The Other Son"

 

If you don't see the video on your screen, click here!

 

 

I missed this poignant, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking French film when it appeared in theaters last Fall.   It arrived in the mail via NetFlix on Thursday--the perfect film for our "Friday Night Dinner & a Movie Night".

As parents of two sons, the Lab Rat & I found this film to be painful & unnerving to watch---but we were riveted by the impossible story line.  

Two sons, one an Israeli, one a Palestinian, mistakenly switched at birth, raised in two loving homes--worlds & cultures apart.  The mistake is discovered when the boys turn 18, & only because of the  genetic impossibility of the blood type that turns up on a routine Army physical.  Lives change in an instant.

One can only imagine the life-changing difficulties of such a discovery--for the parents & the young men. 

The film is now availble via NetFlix or YouTube.

I don't want to give too much away, but here's a capsule summary:

 

'"The Other Son" is the moving and provocative tale of two young men -- one Israeli, the other Palestinian -- who discover they were accidentally switched at birth, and the complex repercussions facing them and their respective families.

As he is preparing to join the Israeli army for his national service, Joseph discovers he is not his parents' biological son, and that he was inadvertently switched at birth with Yacine, the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. This revelation turns the lives of these two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, their values and their beliefs."

 

As Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat, my favorite, most reliable film reviewers explain:

 

'"The Other Son" waters the seeds of empathy in our hearts as we ponder the miracles that can happen when we walk a mile in another person's shoes and truly desire to understand the broader context of another's life. The film also tutors us in the art of listening."   Their full review is here.

Find the New York Times review, here.

 

 

Our Movie Snack:  Good-Bye "Good & Plenty" -- Hello, Lab Rat Grown & Made Kale Chips

 

Kale is Growing in Our Backyard Now!  Hello, Kale Chips

 

Kale Chips Quickly Devoured at our "Friday Night at the Movies"

 

The Basic Recipe:

 

1.  2 bunches of kale (any kind--we used Russian & Lacinato Kale yesterday

2.  1/2 cup of cashews

3.  1 juiced lemon

4.  2-3 TBS of cider vinegar

5.  About 1/3 to 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast (sorry for the loosey, goosey amounts)

5.  1/2 cup water mixed in a high-power blender, then massaged into chopped kale.

6.  The Lab Rat sprinkles on "Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub" for added zest before the kale is dried.

7.  We have a small dehydrator that we use to make the kale chips.  Follow your own dehydrator directions.  Ours were ready in about 4 hours, dried at 115 degrees F.  Check the web for oven-baking directions.

 

 

Ann Esselstyn on "How to Eat Plant-Perfect: What to Eat, Where to Buy It, How to Cook It"

Ann Esselstyn Speaking at a Hospital Employee Wellness Talk: "How to Eat Plant Perfect"
 

 

 The Esselstyns 

 

If you received this post via email, please click here to get to the web version so you can view the videos of Ann's talk, all the links, & photos. 

 

Oh, gee, it's been three weeks since I PROMISED to summarize Ann's talk.  Finally, coming through today, folks--here it is!

Isn't it Ironic that on January 14th, Tara Parker-Pope writes a column in the NYT on, "How to Go Vegan" , garnering almost 800 comments.  Tara, why didn't you talk to Ann, first?  She's got years of experience.

Then on January 15th,  Ann Esselstyn delivers an energizing talk & demo on "How to Eat Plant-Perfect: What to Eat, Where to Buy It, How to Cook It" to a standing-room crowd of hospital employees where I work.   Do you think plant-based is maybe, just maybe, moving a tiny bit closer to "oh, that's not sooo weird" & "it really does makes sense"?  

Ann is a high-energy, down-to-earth dynamo & this crowd of "mostly-new-to-the-plant-based-world" employees loved her!  She shared her Top Ten Plant-Perfect Rules, along with her most favorite foods--like who makes the best pizza crusts, pasta sauces, salad dressings, non-dairy milks, veg broths---& her go-to everyday breakfasts.  Ann's all about making it easy.   Not fancy schmancy.

Ann is the nuts-and-bolts member of the Esselstyn team.  She'll tell you how to shop, transform your pantry, & how to cook all these strange new foods.  Dr. Esselstyn, on the other hand, is armed with his clinical experience, statistics, angiograms, journal citations & science to explain how eating a diet of just vegetables, grains, beans, & fruit can prevent & reverse heart disease.  You can get a summary of Dr. E's explanation here.

Ann tells us how to do it!

 

How to Eat Plant Perfect.  The Ground Rules

 

1. Forget about replacing meat with "faux meat"

Avoid this:  Ann calls it Vegan Junk Food, and the freezer cases of our grocery stores are filled with faux chicken nuggets, barbecue ribs, fake sausage, hot dogs, & lunch meat.  Newbie vegans figure all they have to do is find plenty of plant-based meat substitutes.  "Forget about it," explains Ann.  Read the labels.  Most of those "faux meats" are filled with faux ingredients.  They're high in fat, contain ingredients of questionable benefit, like isolated soy protein, and they usually have too much sodium.  Just read the labels.

Consider instead: If you're looking for a quality plant-based burger, Ann recommends one made by a company in Columbus, Ohio, called Luna Burgers.  You'll recognize ALL the ingredients on their labels:  Spelt Berries, Black Beans, Oats, Onions, Carrots, Kale, Beets, Blueberries, Molasses, Garlic, Apple Cider Vinegar, Salt, Rosemary, Pepper.  I know.  Strange sounding ingredients for a burger--but, they're really good!  Not available everywhere in the US, however.

2. Forget about vegan cheese.  

Avoid this: Carefully read the labels.  Most vegan cheeses contain 2 ingredients you definitely want to avoid: casein, which is a milk protein, & oil.   

Consider instead:  Nutritional yeast.  Find it in the bulk food section of health food stores, or at most grocery stores, these days. Nutritional yeast is a "must-have" seasoning.  It looks like dry pale yellow flakes, but it imparts a subtle cheesy taste to sauces, tofu "ricotta", "mac 'n cheese", pestos, mashed potatoes, popcorn or as a topping, sprinkled on casseroles.  It is a bit of an acquired taste--but, an easy one to acquire.  It's an excellent butter substitute in mashed potatoes.

3.  Give yourself time for your taste buds to adapt & change

If you've eaten a typical American diet all your life, it's going to take time to adapt to the taste of no-oil cooking, new vegetables, less salt, less sugar, exotic spices, unusual beans & grains.  Never fear.  Our tastes change!  

When San'Dera Prude, the 30-something single mom, featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives, was invited to lunch at the Esselstyn's for the first time, she later told Ann she hated the food she was served.

San'Dera was used to fried foods, Kentucky Fried Chicken, a lot of salt, & she wasn't much of a fruit or vegetable fan. Months late, San'Dera realized that she needed to taste a new food at least THREE TIMES before she liked it. Don't make a judgement on your first taste of something new.

4.  What's the difference between Engine 2's Plant-Strong & Esselstyn's Plant-Perfect?

Nuts & avocados are included in the less stringent Engine 2 diet plan.  That's it.  Both plans emphasize: no oil; no meat, no poultry, no fish, no dairy or milk; and both advise a diet of whole grains, mostly unprocessed foods, lots of leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, beans, and legumes.  That's it!   Engine-2 was originally conceived by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn's son, Rip Esselstyn for a younger population who didn't have heart disease--and wanted to avoid it.

 

 

Ann's Top Ten Plant Perfect Pointers

 

1.  No Oil, Ever.  

 It sounds hard, but it's really the easiest change to make. Here's what's problematic with olive oil.  

Sauteeing vegetables without oil:  Instead of oil, find a low or no sodium vegetable broth to saute with, like Kitchen Basics No Added Salt Vegetable broth.  Read labels. Avoid boullion cubes.  The first ingredient is usually salt, & the second ingredient is often palm oil.  

Sauteeing onions & mushrooms is easy, because they have a high water content.  First, preheat your pan on medium high heat.  Add the onions, mushrooms or celery.  Lower the heat to medium low, & cover the pan. Check on the vegetables about every 2 minutes, stir, add a little broth or water if they are starting to stick--and that will easily deglaze the pan.  In about 7 to 10 minutes you'll have beautiful golden & soft vegetables. Garlic has less liquid content, so you'll need to add more liquid when sauteeing garlic.

Baking without oil:  In place of oil, you can use mashed bananas, baby prunes (avoid Gerber Organic brand--it contain tuna oil. The "conventional" Gerber brand is fine! ), or apple sauce.

Salad Dressings without oil:  Ann's favorite dressing is made with a no-oil, no-tahini hummus, some balsamic vinegar, the juice of an orange, & mustard.  Often she dresses her salads with just a high quality flavored balsamic vinegar, like Olive Tap's.   They have every flavor imaginable, like: black currant, pear, chocolate (which is great on banana "ice cream" or drizzled on strawberries), or tangerine. 

 

2.  Eat Leafy Greens.  Many Servings.  Everyday.

 

Strip.  Ann's fridge & garden are perpetually stocked with kale & collards.  Even in the winter she's harvesting kale.  She calls kale, "Spinach with Heft" because it's so nutrient dense, hardy & "hearty".  To help kale cook evenly, she removes its thick stems by holding each leaf in her left hand, and starting at the stem's base, grabbing the stem with her fingers & sliding the leaf quickly off of the stem.  You can chop up the kale leaves, tear them apart--or not.  Place them in a pot of boiling water, cover, & it's done in 5-6 minutes.  Kale stems can be cut on the diagonal & sprinkled on salads, or thrown into soups.  Kale stems: almost like a brand new vegetable.

Massage.  To use raw kale in salads, you'll need to break down it's tought cellulose a bit by massaging it with your hands using a citrus juice, a non-oil dressing or even some hummus.  After massaging, add cherry tomatoes, some lemon zest & lemon juice, or even mango & lime juice to your salad.  An exotic delicious salad in minutes.  Here's a favorite raw kale salad of mine.

Ann's favorite kale:  Lacinato, the long deep dark puffy textured kale, also known as Tuscan or Dinosaur kale.

Use collard greens as a sandwich wrap, a burrito or for making sushi.  Ann fills large softened collard leaves (burrito-fashion) with steamed asparagus, red peppers, carrots, hummus, cilantro, & lemon slices.  Or she makes them into burritos filled with black beans, sweet potatoes, cilantro, & salsa.

Greens in your pasta.  Another genius Ann tip.  Throw cut up greens into a pot of boiling pasta water & let them soften as the pasta cooks--or throw a bunch into the pasta sauce as it heats.  An easy way of getting more greens into your life.

Remember, no oil, greens every day--in salads, soup, pasta, or sandwiches.  Lots of vegetables.

 

3.  Eat Oats (Oatmeal)

Raw, Cooked, Rolled, Steel-Cut, or Whole Oat Groats.   It doesn't matter how you eat them, just eat them everyday for breakfast.  Or whenever. 

Oats help to reduce cholesterol, reduce inflammation & the more you eat, the greater the results--because their benefits are dose-responsive.

Dr. Esselstyn eats his Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats raw, every night after dinner as a snack.  He adds 1 tablespoon of chia or flax meal (kept refrigerated) to them, along with bananas or berries, a crunchy cereal like Kashi, Ezekiel, Grape Nuts, or Shredded Wheat, and oat milk. 

Ann used to eat her rolled oats totally dry with halved red grapes, & maybe a squeeze of grapefruit juice. She wasn't a fan of cooked oatmeal. But, she's changed her tune, and she's now passionate about cooked steel-cut oats, made with a REALLY RIPE banana, 1 cup of water, & 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  When done cooking, she tops it with chia & blueberries.  No milk in her oatmeal.

Ann's Favorite Savory-Style Oats:  Yay!  She's a fan of my "Cheezy Savory Oats with Greens"   They're steel-cut oats that you could serve to company for dinner.

Dr. Esselstyn's Favorite Milk:  Oat milk

Ann's Favorite Milk:  Almond milk

Don't Forget One of These Important Oat Toppers:  Add a tablespoon or two of ground flax seed (flax meal) or chia seed to your daily oatmeal for a handy source of omega-3's.  Flax seeds need to be ground for your body to absorb their nutrients--and always keep them in the refrigerator for freshness.

The of variety of non-dairy milks is stunning.  Almond, Oat, Soy & Rice.  Sweetened, unsweetened, enriched, Vanilla, Chocolate, you name it.   Each come with there own benefits.  Some are better for cooking.  Some are better tasting.  Most are enriched with calcium & vitamin D, to match dairy milk.  Read the non-dairy milk labels carefully.  Avoid any that contain oil or ingredients that you don't want to consume.   Avoid coconut milk.

 

4.  Fill Your Life with Beans & Lentils

Ann's favorite bean is red lentils, because they cook quickly & dissolve into a thick creaminess which is perfect for soups & stews.  She even throws red lentils into pasta sauces.

Bean rule #1:  Look for cans or cartons with no-added salt.  Whole Foods 365 Brand & Eden Foods make no-salt beans.  Eden Foods packages them in no-BPA cans, & now 365 Brand packages their beans in tetra-boxes.

 

5.  Eat Whole Grains

Read all bread, tortilla, pasta & cereal labels CAREFULLY.  The first ingredient should include the word WHOLE, as in WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, not just wheat flour, or semolina flour.

Pizza crusts:  Ann sometimes uses whole wheat pita bread or lavash as a pizza crust.  But, her all-time favorite, & mine, is Sami's Millet & Flax crusts.  Unless you live in Florida, unfortunately, you'll have to order Sami's crusts from their main bakery in Tampa, FL.  To cut down on shipping costs, I order them with a group of four friends.  32 crusts at a time, 8 crusts for each of us, & we store them in our freezers.

 

 

Pizza & Pasta Sauce?

Ann recommends Walnut Acres Basil & Tomato.  It's one of the few prepared sauces that's made with no-oil & is low-sodium.  Look for it at health food stores, Giant Eagle, or order it through Amazon.   

Second best:  Muir Glenn's Portobello Mushroom Pasta Sauce.

Third best:  Trader Joe's No-Oil Marinara Sauce.  It's high in sodium.

Ann's tip for pizza sauce:  Mix chopped-up cooked kale into your pizza sauce to get extra greens. You won't even notice it in there.

 

 

A Delicious New Bread Discovery by Ann.  Almost dessert-like.

Manna Bread.   This is a sprouted, organic bread made with whole wheat kernels, carrots, & raisins.  Ann recommends toasting it for your "eating pleasure"--because it has a soft squishy texture.   I haven't tasted it yet, but Ann's got a loaf set aside for me in her freezer to be delivered the next time we meet up at the gym. Look for it at some Whole Foods.

 

 

 

6.  Drink Water

Don't drink your calories. No soda.  No diet drinks.  Don't juice.  Don't drink smoothies.  Better to chew your fruits & vegetables, & eat them whole, rather then blend them into a drink.  

 

7.  Limit Salt

The amount of salt that's added to processed, prepared, or restaurant foods is over-the-top.  Instead of salting your foods, Ann recommends a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, because they activate the same taste receptors on the tongue & trick our brains into not missing the salt.  Other brain-tricking options are using a dash of vinegar, hot sauce, sriracha or cholula sauce.

Ann tip:  Freeze lemons & limes whole & grate some onto whatever you're eating.  Vinegar takes the bitterness out of foods, so drizzle some onto greens or other strong-tasting vegetables.

 

8.  Limit Sugar

Bottom Line:  Keep sugary snacks & baked goods out of the house.  It's just too tempting, & as long as you keep the sweets around you'll keep your sugar addiction.  Just try eating one piece of chocolate or one cookie.  You know you'll be back for more.   

Ann tip:  Consider a Yonanas machine & make your own sugar-free "soft-serve ice cream" from frozen fruit & bananas.

 

9.  Avoid Coconut Milk or Coconut Oil

Coconut is everywhere these days, touted as a "healthy fat" mostly because of its creamy mouth-feel.  It's in non-dairy milks, ice creams, & yogurts.  Don't use it.  It's a highly saturated fat.  In just 1/4 cup of coconut milk (about 1 serving) you'll find 12 grams of fat--10 grams of which are saturated.  Even if it was found to be a healthy, unharmful fat--it's still a fat, that's loaded with calories of limited nutritional value.

A Handy Coconut Milk Substitute:  You can easily substitute the taste & creaminess of coconut milk in recipes by adding 1 teaspoon of high quality coconut extract, like Silver Cloud Estates, to one cup of non-dairy milk.  You'll need 1 1/2 teaspoons & 1 1/2 cups of milk for a typical can of coconut milk.

 

10.  Unsweetened Un-Dutched Cocoa Yes!  Dark Chocolate, No!

You get all the heart-healthy benefits of chocolate if you go right to the source:  COCOA.  In one small serving of dark chocolate you're eating 20 grams of fat, 12 of which are saturated.  It's just not necessary. You can enjoy non-fat unsweetened cocoa in so many ways.   Like these, for example:  "Anytime Valentine Chocolate Treats for Breakfast, Snacks, or Dessert - It's Just Beans, Oats, Chia, and Dates (and Stevia)"

 

The New Kitchen Gadget Ann Recently Discovered

 

 

Ann's daughter, Jane, recently gave her a Perfect Tortilla Cup set.  It's available at  Bed, Bath, & Beyond--so I hear.  "The best part",  Ann says, "is that the Engine 2 No-Oil Sprouted Grain & Gluten-Free Torillas fit perfectly into these molds & make "perfect tortilla bowls"  for salads."

 

I'm an unabashed Ann Fan!  She tells it like it is.  She's fit, strong, energetic & a role model for all of us who want to age with health & vitality.

 

 

 

Excerpts from Ann's Talk at the Lab Rat's Rotary Breakfast Meeting (8 minutes)

 

Ann, you'll be happy to know, the Rotarians were taking excellent notes.  Yesterday's newsletter had a full page summary of your talk!  

 

If You Don't See the Video, You Can Access It Here

 

Ann's Talk in Nova Scotia, Canada (36 minutes)

 

This video was part of a public lecture presented by Dr. and Ann Esselstyn while visiting Sydney NS Canada in January of 2013.

 

If You Don't See the Video, You Can Access It Here

 

 

Welcome Back to Breakfast, "Cheezy" Oatmeal with Greens. Out with the Sweet! It's Time for Sophisticated & Savory for 2013!

 

I'm Bringing Back My "Cheezy" Steel-Cut Oats with Greens in 2013

 

"I adore savory breakfasts.

In the old days I loved bacon and eggs sometimes even with potatoes.

But the arteries and the waistline just won't take it anymore.

I loved the breakfasts I had in Japan and cannot recommend miso soup too highly. The first time I tasted it I had to have two refills. Yum! 
 

Loved Scandinavian breakfasts as well, but can't have the meat and cheese anymore.

Same with Turkish breakfasts, but they always have lettuce tomato and cucumber the above. Very nice.
 

Here is my current favorite breakfast. Absolutely delicious and good for the arteries.  Great science based health blog too, I might add: Happy Healthy Long Life" 

-Posted on Mark Bittman's column, "Savory Breakfast Department,"  by Elephant Lover, New Mexico, February 9, 2011-

 

 

I admit it.

For most of 2012 I neglected this crazy delicious savory nutrient-powerhouse of a breakfast.  

You know me by now.  

I'm always trying something new--and I just got totally hooked on my chocolate oatmeal with raw buckwheat groats & berries for breakfast.  It was like eating a dessert.  I couldn't give it up.  Just never tired of it--and completely ignored my old breakfast friend, "Cheezy Oats with Greens".

That is, until yesterday.  My birthday, and the second day of the New Year--2013.

Wow, is all I can say!  I'm bringing it back for 2013.  Big time.

I highly recommend you give it a try, too.  Almost everyone I know who has tried it has loved its hearty sophisticated taste.  Except kids, of course.

Who says breakfast oatmeal ought to be sweet?  Savory really does kick it up a notch & it's the perfect foil for morning greens.

 

Here's what I posted on Facebook yesterday:

 

Oh, baby! I started the New Year & my birthday off right with the BREAKFAST of CHAMPIONS! "Not Your Mother's Oatmeal! A Mega-Nitric Oxide Antioxidant Boosting Breakfast for Champions: The Healthy Librarian's Savory "Cheezy" Oatmeal with Shiitake Mushrooms, Sundried Tomatoes & Kale.

This is beyond belief delicious--like an amazing spicy risotto. Usually, I make this with spinach--but, today it was kale. I also used vegetable broth instead of the water & sun dried cherry tomatoes from our garden. 

 

 

 

The Healthy Librarian's Savory "Cheezy" Breakfast Oatmeal with Shiitake Mushrooms, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

 

"Eat salad at as many meals as possible, even breakfast!"

-Ann Esselstyn, in "Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease"-

 

Anthony Yen, one of Dr. Esselstyn's original patients.  Here, at age 81, at a Whole Foods/Engine 2 event, May 2010

 

"Cheezy" oats for breakfast?  Have I really gone off the deep end?  Probably--but let me explain how I got this crazy notion.

About four weeks ago, I ran into Dr. Esselstyn at the gym.  He was headed in to go swimming--I was heading out to get to work.  We had a mile-a-minute discussion about walnuts, nitric oxide, greens, alpha-carotenes & oatmeal.   He told me how much he liked my post about that little-known antioxidant in oats--avenanthramide--and its beneficial effect on our blood vessels .

Turns out, according to Dr. Mohsen Meydani, the "oat expert" at the USDA-Agricultural Research Vascular Biology Lab at Tufts University,  oats help prevent atherosclerosis by increasing artery-saving nitric oxide production in the endothelium or lining of our arteries. That's the "magic gas" that keeps the arteries relaxed and dilated.  And it's a dose-response--the more avenanthramides you eat, the greater the nitric oxide production.  The dose-response thing--that's the part of my post that really grabbed Dr. Esselstyn's attention.  More oats=more nitric oxide!

To read the whole post about Oatmeal: The Breakfast of Champions click here. 

 

The two new take-aways I learned in our morning conversation:

• Esselstyn noticed that his own cholesterol decreased about 8-10% when he started eating oatmeal after dinner, as a kind of dessert--and he always uses oat milk with his oats.  As crazy as it sounds, oat milk is really delicious, and it's a staple in our pantry.

• Ideally, we should aim to include greens in our diet about 6 times a day--to get a regular nitric-oxide boost!  And it looks like oats are a pretty good stand for greens in the nitric oxide boosting-department. 

Here's why the Mayo Clinic says nitric oxide is important for the brain. 

Here's why it's important for the heart. 

 

I hadn't known about the 6 times a day recommendation for greens.  So let's see how it can play out:

1. Morning oatmeal--topped with oatmilk  (Here's where my new recipe comes in!)
2. Mid-morning green smoothie snack
3. Lunch time salad &/or meal that includes greens, like a sandwich stuffed with romaine or cilantro
4. Mid-afternoon green smoothie snack
5. Dinner side salad
6. Main meal that includes greens, like a casserole, soup, a side dish--or adding greens to pasta or pizza
7. **If you miss one of your six servings, there's always some after-dinner oatmeal for dessert or Mexican hot cocoa made with oat milk (click here for the cocoa recipe)
8. Note:  Esselstyn isn't a big green smoothie fan--too much fruit--and no chewing.   I'm a big fan. 

 

What Does Anthony Yen Have to Do with My "Cheezy" Oatmeal?

 

Well, Anthony always includes vegetables in his daily oatmeal breakfast!  He adds about 3 handfuls of spinach or 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables and some low-sodium tamari to his morning oats.  Don't think so?  Not for me?  That's what I thought at first, too.  I was wrong!

Anthony was one of Dr. Esselstyn's early patients.  He had a massive cardiac event on New Year's Eve 1987, followed by a quintuple bypass surgery that left him feeling immobilized, depressed, and hopeless.

 

Anthony said, "I blamed myself for what I had done to myself.  I wanted to know what caused my disease, and how do I stop it."  When Anthony told his cardiologist that he wanted to see Dr. Esselstyn, the cardiologist said,  "Esselstyn is not a cardiologist.  If you go to him, don't come back to see me."

Anthony was furious.  "I wanted to get to the cause, and the doctor was so negative.  So I fired the cardiologist, and went to Dr. Esselstyn on my own."  As Anthony's wife Joseanne explains,  "He had no hope.  He was willing to do anything."  pg. 24-25, Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease.

 

Anthony's story really came to life for me when I heard him tell it on a preview DVD of Forks Over Knives I saw last spring.  His personal experience is both compelling and convincing.   Soon after I viewed the DVD, I got to meet him when Rip Esselstyn came to town for a local roll-out of the national Whole Foods' Health Starts Here program.  Read all about Whole Foods' down-right-revolutionary approach to a healthy diet-- here.

Is this distinguished gentleman who's brimming with health & vitality really over 80 years old?  Was he really once overweight with severe heart disease?   He and his wife Joseanne have been eating no-oil &  plant-based for 24 years now, and his picture (above) says it all.  He's also fantastic in Forks Over Knives!

 

 

At the Whole Food s Healthy Start Roll-Out in May 2010.  That's me BEFORE I Cut Out Oil, Nuts, Chocolate & Avocados--and lost weight!

 

 

My "Cheezy" Savory Breakfast Oatmeal with Shiitake Mushrooms, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

 

 

 In the Pot, Ready to Cook - Doesn't Look a Thing Like My Fave Pumpkin Oatmeal

 

Anthony & Dr. Esselstyn were my inspiration to find an easy tasty savory breakfast oatmeal with greens.  Today, I finally tried out a recipe, and I was happily surprised at the results. Actually, I thought it was fabulous--but that's me.  Try it, and let me know what you think.

I'm also looking forward to hearing your suggestions for some other knock-your-socks-off savory seasonings.  I'm throwing out the challenge!  Greens for Breakfast!  A call for recipes.

Honestly, it's kinda of like eating a savory frittata.  Oooh--maybe some leftover potatoes, roasted red peppers, or even jalapenos for add-ins.  But it's got to be something quick. 

 

Makes 4 servings.  Cooking Time: maybe 15 minutes??  Click here for the recipe on one page

 

My recipe is a variation of "You're So Cheezy" Savoury Oats, from Oh, She Glows.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup of steel cut oats

2 cups of water  (you could substitute 1 or 2 cups of vegetable broth for the water)

1 cup of non-dairy milk.  I used Eden-brand enriched soy milk

2 TBS. nutritional yeast  (this is what gives it the "cheezy taste")  It's high in B vitamins--click here

1/4 teaspoon or more of turmeric (this gets it nice & yellow)

1 1/2 tsp. of Bone Suckin' Sauce Seasoning & Rub  (This has brown sugar, chili pepper, paprika, garlic, onion, & bell pepper)  Could sub any Cajun or Southwest Seasoning you like)

a few grinds of fresh black pepper

a pinch or two of chipotle powder (optional--I like it spicy & use 1/4 teaspoon)

1 oz. of julienned sun-dried tomatoes (I love the brand called California Sun-Dried because they're already julienned, they're nice & soft & need no soaking.)

About a handful (5) dried shiitake mushrooms, broken into pieces & rinsed.   Use any dried mushrooms you like.

2 1/2 ounces of fresh baby spinach, rinsed per serving of oatmeal!!  I make enough oatmeal for 4 servings & each serving will need to be topped with 2.5 ounces of spinach.  (You can substitute kale or any other green, too.  Kale just takes longer to soften up)

 

1.  Mix the oats,  water, milk (or veggie broth), seasonings, tomatoes, & mushrooms into a pot.

2.  Heat to boiling.  Watch carefully, and turn it down to a simmer once it starts to boil.  Stir occasionally, and check back in about 10 minutes.  You'll want the water absorbed, and the oats nice & creamy.

3.  When the oats are done, microwave one serving of spinach briefly, until it's soft, but not mushy.  Depending upon your microwave this could take anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. 

4.  Top one serving of oatmeal with the softened spinach & mix.  Enjoy!

5.  Store the rest of the oatmeal (3 servings) in the fridge, and in the morning heat up 1 serving topped with the spinach in the microwave.

Check out this powerhouse of a breakfast!   A double dose of nitric oxide boosting power from oats & spinach!  Crazy how much nutrition is one breakfast bowl!

 

 

Nutrition Facts Healthy Librarian's Savory "Cheezy" Oats with Greens
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	245
Total Fat	3.5g
Saturated Fat	0.6g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	194mg
Carbohydrate	50.9g
Dietary Fiber	18.1g
Sugars	6.6g
Protein	12.8g
Vitamin A 141% Vitamin C 53% Calcium    17% Iron 62%

 

 

 

Thankgsgiving Plant-Based Holiday Weekend Recipes from Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner to Dessert (A 2011 Repost)

 

 

"Enlightened" Rockin' Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

 

If you received this post via email, please click here to get to the web version with all the links, a video, & to write a comment.

My kids are hosting Thanksgiving this year!  Woo Hoo!  I'm off the "menu planning" hook.

They're not stressing the least bit about it.   They didn't get that trait from me--that's for sure.  Haven't even planned the menu yet, except for making some vodka infused with chili peppers & sun-dried tomatoes for Bloody Mary's & a batch of homemade fermenting "Fiery Slaw". 

 

 

They're much more creative cooks than I am, so I can't wait to see what will ultimately show up on the menu.

It will surely be a joint family cooking effort.  It always is. 

I'm thinking about bringing along some El Burgers, Chipotle Topping, Carrot Cake Muffins, Pumpkin Pie Squares (with chocolate chips & walnuts), & a Chocolate Chip Zucchini Walnut Bread for us to munch on over the long weekend.  It's a holiday--time for chocolate chips, right?

Maybe a Sicilian Walnut Pesto Lasagna, too.  I've made that one 3 times & it's a huge hit.

We'll see how much cooking time I have before the holiday.

 

Repost of Thanksgiving 2011 Recipes

You Asked - I'm Delivering

 

 

Wait!  Wait!  Don't plan your holiday menu until you read this post!

 

You just might find something that looks yummy to you.

I promised myself I'd write up my post-Thanksgiving Hit List today (uh, that was Friday--and now it's Saturday morning) no matter what!  I changed up so many of the recipes that I posted pre-Thanksgiving--and I know that so many of these will work perfectly for the Christmas holiday for anyone who is having a houseful of company over the long weekend.

So here are my family's favorites--with links to the revised recipes.

 

The Top-Ten Thanksgiving Week-End Family Favorites List

 

1.  Rockin' Roasted Rosemary Potatoes -  my family couldn't get enough of these & I've made them three times since Thanksgiving.  No-oil & amazing!  A crazy crunchy coating made with a little vodka, vermouth, grainy Dijon mustard, garlic, horseradish, caraway seed, smoked paprika, & hot pepper.  OMG you're going to LOVE these!

2.  Kale Waldorf Salad with Honey Crisp Apples, Toasted Walnuts, Cranberries, Raisins & a Creamy Dressing -  a unanimous hit, and I've made this two times since Thanksgiving.  I have never liked raw kale salad before I tasted this version. But, you HAVE to use lacinato or dinosaur kale--and honey crisp apples 

3.  Sunday Brunch Spicy Sweet Potato, Onion, Pepper & Italian "Sausage" Hash - this was all gone in a blink of an eye.  Don't plan on having left-overs of this one!  Vegans & Carnivores agree that this one is out-of-this-world.  It's the Field Roast Sausage.

4.  "Enlightened" Quick-Fix Sweet Potato, Spinach, Fire-Roased Tomatoes, and a Bit of Peanut Butter Soup - so fast & easy, plus you can make this ahead of time.  Freeze it flat in freezer ziploc bags for easy storage.  Thank you, Jodith, for that tip! Everyone who has mades this, loves it!

5.  Curry Cauliflower, Chickpea, Sweet Potato Soup with a Smidge of Peanut Butter--A breeze to make, freezes well, & everyone I know who has made this, loves it!  Will feed a crowd.

6.  Chocolate Chip No-Oil Walnut Zucchini Bread--chocolate chips, a little sugar, but a real treat when you have houseguests, book club, or company coming.

7. "Enlightened" Chloe Coscarelli Chocolate-Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Sweet Vanilla Cashew Cream Sauce - served warm with Son #1's addition of the sweet vanilla sauce took this holiday dessert over the edge of deliciousness.  Using Ezekiel Sprouted Cinnamon Raisin Bread took it over into the "this is healthy"  zone.

8.  Barbecue Brisket Seitan Reuben's--this sandwich was a huge hit--even with the carnivores in the family.  You'll need to make your own seitan, but it's really easy & makes 4 pounds that you can freeze.  Use real old-fashioned Jewish rye bread with caraway seeds--or T.J. Sprouted Rye with caraway seeds, cole slaw, dill pickles--the works.  LOVED!

9.  Roasted Triple Mushroom Soup - Not only is this sophisticated, easy to put together, and a mushroom immune booster--it also worked well as a gravy for our Thanksgiving "Meat-less" Loaf.  

10.  Pumpkin-Spiced Steel-Cut Oats for Eight!   Make it in the crockpot overnight--and wake-up to the most delicious fragrance.  I'm now making this just for myself--so I can have pre-made oatmeal every morning for a week.  Warm it in the microwave along with frozen berries, and then top it with a sprinkle of toasted walnuts & a tablespoon of chia.  What a way to start the day!

11.  Fat-Free Vegan's Thanksgiving "Meat-Less" Loaf -  Delicious, giant "meat-less" loaf that everyone enjoyed for Thanksgiving & post-T-Day Dinner.  Definitely find quinoa flakes for this--makes a difference, because quinoa flakes make a firmer loaf.  I found these in the gluten-free section of my grocery store & at Whole Foods.  Some reserved, & reduced Roasted Triple Mushroom Soup doubled for the gravy, use Susan's.  It's good, too.  Use your favorite glaze--included Bone Suckin' Barbecue Sauce (Thicker Recipe).

 

 My Amateur Thankgiving Photo Collection

 

Thanksgiving Morning Spiced Apple Pumpkin Steel-Cut Oats for Eight

 

A Sophisticated Roasted Triple Mushroom Bisque

Kale Waldorf Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Honey Crisp Apples, Cranberries/Raisins in a Creamy Dressing (photo by Whole Foods--mine was out-of-focus)

 

Kale Waldorf Salad - Undressed - Check Out Costco's Organic Baby Kale

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Shallots & Toasted Hazelnuts

 

Thanksgiving "Meat" Loaf - here's the recipe & here's the glaze

 

Dellcious Sliced & Top-Browned Thanksgiving "Meat" Loaf Leftovers

 

Babs' Famous Cranberry Relish with Toasted Walnuts, Raisins, & Orange

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding Right Out of the Oven

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cashew Cream Sauce

 

Seitan Reuben's with Lab Rat's Homemade Pickles & H.L.'s Cool Cole Slaw

 

Brunch Sweet Potato, Onion, Red Pepper & Italian "Sausage" Hash

Sweet Potato, Spinach, Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and a Bit of Peanut Butter Soup

 

Val's Crowd-Pleasing Curried Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, Chickpea, Spinach & Peanut Butter Soup

 

 

If You're Ready to Ditch the Latke's for a New Chanukah Tradition Try This

 

Reposted from December 04, 2010:

A New Oil-Free Chanukah Tradition: "Enlightened" Veganomicon Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce - And a New Dreidel Spin on the Miracle of Oil on Chanukah - Make One Day's Worth of Oil Last for Eight Days!

The Healthy Librarian's (Husband's) "Enlightened" Veganomicon Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce

 

 

Who doesn't love latkes? 

Crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside--potato pancakes made with grated potatoes, onion, eggs, plenty of salt, and fried up in peanut oil. And topped with sour cream.  When I was a kid, our traditional Chanukah dinner was always potato latkes, corned beef sandwiches, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Always!  A deadly trifecta, but who knew?

As good as they taste, I wasn't about to fry up a batch this year.   I've half-heartedly looked for a fat-free version, but honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort.  It couldn't possibly compare to the real thing.

 

Frying latkes in oil is what it's all about.  Last year in the New York Times Karen Barrow shared opinions from both cookbook authors and amateur cooks about whether it's possible to make a  "healthy tasty latke".  If you must try,  here's one possibility, from Steven Raichlen.

“I’m not going to ruin my latke joy to save a few calories once a year,” Elizabeth, one NYT reader, wrote.

“Spare me,” chided another. “I’ll take my latkes fried in lots of oil. It works for my 91-year-old grandparents.”

Joan Nathan, a well respected cookbook author and expert in Jewish foods, said she’s not surprised at the widespread resistance to making a traditional treat more healthful. When once asked to come up with baked latkes that tasted as good as fried, she tried. “But I ended up throwing all the recipes in the garbage,” she said.

Another reason for the fried latke’s persistence: oil isn’t just a cooking ingredient, it’s central to the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah. 

“It’s all about the oil,” said Susie Fishbein, author of “Kosher by Design Lightens Up.” You can spray your latkes with oil and bake them, she said, but “most people are not going to cheer when that comes to the table. It has to be fried.”

 

Wednesday night was the first night of Chanukah.  As I drove home from work in the dark, cold, and snow--the perfect setting for the first night of Chanukah--I knew my husband was going to have something delicious for dinner.  No last minute scrambling in the kitchen for me on this Wednesday night.  And what perfect timing that he decided to try his hand out on a healthy potato dish for the first night of Chanukah: Veganomicon's Potato and Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce.  We both agreed--it was a great substitute for traditional Chanukah latkes.

The Chanukah Miracle Story--When One Day's Worth of Oil Lasts for Eight Days

Oil is "central to the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah.  After winning back their land in battle, the Jews needed to light a menorah as part of a rededication of their Temple. Although they only had enough oil for one day, the oil, miraculously, lasted for eight."  (Joan Nathan in the NYT)  Tada!  That's where the connection to eating foods fried in oil on Chanukah comes from. 

 

Bet You Can't Eat Just One?  So Why Even Start?  

 

So, here's my cheesy take on celebrating Chanukah--if you're not ready to cut out all the oil in your diet right now--try making one day's worth of oil (say about 1/4 cup) last for eight days.  That's 1.5 tsp of oil a day if my math is right!  It's doable.  Experience your own miracle of good health by making one day's worth of oil last for eight days!  Call it a Chanukah challenge.

Thanks to Cheri for sharing the video!  If you aren't seeing the video, click here

 

Happy Chanukah!  Candlelight by the Maccabeats

  

 

The Healthy Librarian's Husband's "Enlightened" Veganomicon Potato and Kale  Enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce

 

To get a copy of the recipe on one page, click here.

This beats the lowly latke hands-down for taste and nutrition.  You could probably live on these: with 0 cholesterol, 9.2 grams of fiber, 12 grams of protein, 187% of vitamin A, 261% of vitamin C, 16% calcium, and 27% iron--not to mention the health benefits of kale and tomatoes.

 

Serves 4-6

Cooking & Prep Time:  1 1/2 hours

 

Enchilada Chile Sauce:

1 onion, cut into small dice

3 large green chiles (such as Anaheim or even Italian-style long green peppers), roasted, seeded, peeled, and chopped coarsely.  The best way to roast peppers is over high heat right on top of the gas burner--don't do this if you have an electric stove.  Use tongs to turn them, and rotate as they blacken & blister.  When 75%  done roasting, drop the pepper in a bowl or a paper bag, and allow it sit for 10-15 minutes, until it's cool enough to handle.  Peel away the skin, and then dice.  No worries about remaining charred parts.  If you don't have a gas stove, roast them on a grill or in a very hot oven.  Use canned green chilis in a pinch.

2-3 teaspoons of chile powder, preferably ancho chili (note: I just purchased this at Penzey's & it's amazing--not hot, just rich & mellow tasting)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon marjoram or Mexican oregano (epazote)

1 (28 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted preferred--like Muir Glen.  I prefer crushed to diced.)

1 tsp. sugar (opt. or use agave)

salt to taste (optional)

 

Potato and Kale Filling:

1 pound waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold or Red

1/2 pound kale, washed, trimmed, and chopped finely

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 cup vegetable broth or water (plus more for sauteeing onions & kale)

3 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) coarsely chopped, plus additional for garnish

Salt to taste (optional)

6 large sprouted grain tortillas, like Ezekiel or French Meadow, or Ezekiel Gluten-free.  (alternatively, you can also use 12-14 corn tortillas)   Either one works well--I've made them both ways.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and have ready a shallow casserole dish, at least 11 1/2 X 7 1/2.  

Prepare the enchilada sauce first:

1. In a large, heavy bottomed non-stick saucepan over medium heat, saute the onions.  Let them start to brown & give off their own liquid before adding any broth or water to the pan.  When they start to get a little dry, and start to stick a bit, add a little vegetable broth or water--just enough to deglaze the pan.  Add more liquid as needed, but not too much.  Saute for 4-7 minutes, until the onions are softened. 

2. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer, and remove from the heat.  When the mixture has cooled enough, taste and adjust the salt if necessary. 

3. Puree the mixture with an immersion or regular blender until smooth and even.

Prepare the filling:

1. Peel and dice the potatoes, then boil them until tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside. 

2. Saute the garlic in about 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth in a large saucepan or frying pan (that has a lid) over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the garlic is sizzling and slightly browned (be careful not to let it burn!!) 

3. Add more broth if necessary, and then add the kale, sprinkle with a little salt, and raise the heat to medium, stirring constantly to cover the kale with the garlic.  Partially cover the pot to steam the kale until it has wilted, 4-6 minutes.

4. Remove the lid and mix in the potatoes, the 1/4 cup of vegetable stock, lime juice, pumpkin seeds, and salt, if you're using it.  Use the back of a wooden spoon, or the bottom of a flat drinking glass to mash some of the potatoes.  Cook another 3-4 minutes, until the stock is absorbed.  Add more lime juice or seasoning to taste.

Create an enchilada assembly line:

1. Have ready a pie plate or something similar filled with about 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce, a 9 X 13 casserole dish, your stack of tortillas, a heated griddle or a pan large enough to heat your tortillas--because that's how you'll soften them up, and the potato and kale filling.  You can also soften the tortillas one at a time in the microwave if you prefer--follow the directions on the package.

2. Ladle a little bit of the enchilada sauce onto the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch casserole dish and spread it around. 

3. Take a tortilla, place it on the heated griddle or pan for 30 seconds, then flip it over and heat until the tortilla  has become soft & pliable.  Or soften them in the microwave.  Drop the softened tortilla onto pie plate filled with sauce; allow it to get completely covered in sauce, flip it over, and coat the other side.

4. Now, place the tortillas either in the casserole dish (the easiest way) or on an additional plate.  Place 1/6 of the potato filling down the middle of the tortilla and roll it up.  Continue with rest of tortillas, tightly packing enchildas next to each other.

5. Pour about a cup of sauce over the top (reserving some for later when you serve the enchiladas), cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until edges of the tortillas poking out of sauce look just a little browned.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.  Top individual servings with any remaining enchilada sauce, warmed slightly.

Enjoy!  Happy Chanukah!  Sure it's a bit of a pitchky-patchky, as my mom would say, but not half as hard as making potato pancakes.  Bonus:  No grease splatters on your walls, or that fried potato onion smell that hangs in your house for days.  These enchiladas smell divine!

Nutrition Facts Enlightened Veganomicon Potato and kale enchiladas with Roasted Chile Sauce
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	292
Total Fat	6.1g
Saturated Fat	1g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	500mg
Carbohydrate	51.3g
Dietary Fiber	9.2g
Sugars	7.4g
Protein	12g
Vitamin A 187% Vitamin C 261% Calcium    16% Iron 27%

 

 

Please Let Me Know What You Think of These Recipes

You Can Comment Here by scrolling to the bottom of the page

 

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Rosh Hashanah Soul Food - Recipes for the Body and Soul

 

 

If you received this post via email, please click here to get to the web version, with some videos that may not come through email & a whole lot of links!

Rosh Hashanah begins this Sunday at sundown, September 16, 2012.  

It's a holiday with sweet & serious food for both the body & the soul.  So I'm offering up a little of both in this post.

Since so many of you have asked me to post some of my favorite plant-strong holiday recipes I started looking through what I've made since I first started blogging in 2008.

Here's my first Rosh Hashanah post, and one of my favorites, from 2009, Transforming Traditions - Rice, Beans, & Squash and When Friends Become Family.   I'd have to "transform" those early recipes to make them plant-strong--ditching the oil & the cheese.  But, it's doable.

This year, I'm celebrating the holidays at home, with friends.  My kids will be doing the same in Washington, DC & St. Louis.  We'll have to wait until Thanksgiving to all be together again.

 

Sometimes you just have to transform the traditional.  Holiday fare doesn't always have to be brisket and matzoh ball soup. 

Holidays can't always be celebrated with your family.  You can transform humble fare like rice, beans and squash into something truly spectacular. 

And if your family lives out-of-town, your friends can be transformed into family. 

"Find a way to be grateful for what you do have."

-Transforming Traditions,  HHLL  Oct. 8, 2009-

 

 

First Comes the Reflection Part - Food for the Soul

 

Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur are kind of like "report card time" for grown-ups.  Like a cosmic "Employee Evaluation"--but we have to grade ourselves.  And who's comfortable doing that?

In fancy words, it's the season of self-examination of one's spiritual, physical, interpersonal and communal responsibilities.  

So, another year's gone by, and how am I doing as a wife, mom, grandmother, sister, friend, sister-in-law, employee, neighbor, acquaintance?  Have I done a single thing to make life better for someone else?  Gee, I sure hope so.  But, goodness knows, I've fallen short.  Many times.

And then comes the really tough squirmy part, when we're supposed to think about who we may have knowingly or unknowingly hurt, offended, embarrassed, wronged, disappointed, been unavailable for, slighted, ignored, cheated or worse--and then take responsibility for any wrongdoings by asking that person(s) for forgiveness.

Uhh, that's a whole lot easier said than done, right?  Sure, it's not so hard to come up with a whole laundry list of where we messed up or fell short. But, it's a whole other ballgame to actually ask someone for forgiveness. It's just not something most of us are used to doing.  How awkward.  How difficult. How uncomfortable & embarrassing. 

 

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me

-Superman, Five for Fighting-

The cure of the soul begins with a sense of embarrassment, embarrassment at our pettiness, prejudices, envy, and conceit; embarrassment at the profanation of life.

-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel- 

 

So, in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah reflection, I'm sharing two brilliant & charming animations that certainly got my head into the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur mood.  I thank Hanan Harchol for his creativity & brilliance.  He's simply adorable--as you'll soon see.   And I thank Krista Tippitt of "On Being" for introducing me to Harchol's work a month ago.

Honestly, making apologies, fixing our mistakes, becoming a better person, & forgiving each other--it's all non-denominational stuff.   

Doesn't matter if you're an atheist, agnostic, humanist, Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Jew, Buddhist, Bahai, Protestant--whatever.  We're all in this world together!

 

 

Repair by Hanan Harchol

If you don't see the video on your screen, click here

 

 

Forgiveness by Hanan Harchol

 If you do not see the video on your screen, click here

 

 

Now Comes the Recipe Part - Food & Nourishment for the Body

 

 

Triple Rice Salad with Dried Fruits and Nuts 

 

This a a long-time family favorite of mine and a crowd-pleaser for meat-eaters & vegans alike.  It's a room temperature main dish salad with brown, wild, & basmati rice, that's chock full of dried fruit, pecans (sure, substitute walnuts), & fragrant fresh herbs, like mint, basil, & parsley.  Mmmm.  What an original combo!

And then comes the secret ingredient that turns it into a main dish:  Grilled Field Roast Apple Sage Sausages.

It's all dressed in a garlicky, lemony creamy cashew dressing.

No, it's not low-fat, nor is it Esselstyn-approved, but, it's a special holiday dish that everyone will love.  At least I hope so.   Click here for the recipe--I recently revised it. 

 

 

Spicy African Sweet Potato Lentil Garbanzo Peanut Soup/Stew

 

 

African Sweet Potato Pineapple Soup 

 

Everyone Loves Dick's Fennel Leek Spinach Soup with Dr. J's Matza Balls

 

This soup is a subtle-tasting creamy pale green delight, made with fennel, leeks, spinach & vegetable broth.  My friend Dick, a talented cook, has been making this soup for years. This is a no-oil version of a 1997 Bon Appetit Passover recipe.  It's always a holiday favorite & is so much better with matza balls than plain old "chicken" broth.  

Dr. J's version of matza balls are just perfect--and the only kind of no-oil & no-egg matza balls that don't fall apart.  Follow her directions EXACTLY. 

 

Susan's Mushroom Barley Soup

 

This is a thick, hearty, easy-to-make mushroom barley soup that I've been making for over 20 years, long before I started eating plant-based.  I still have the yellow, faded newspaper clipping it comes from.   Perfect for Rosh Hashanah.

 

 

"Enlightened" Rockin' Roasted Rosemary Potatoes 

Rockin' Roasted Rosemary Potatoes -  my family couldn't get enough of these & I've made them at least five times since last Thanksgiving.  No-oil & amazing!  A crazy crunchy coating made with a little vodka, vermouth, grainy Dijon mustard, garlic, horseradish, caraway seed, smoked paprika, & hot pepper.  OMG you're going to LOVE these!

 

 

Kale Waldorf Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Honey Crisp Apples, Cranberries/Raisins in a Creamy Dressing (photo by Whole Foods)

 

Kale Waldorf Salad with Honey Crisp Apples, Toasted Walnuts, Cranberries, Raisins & a Creamy Dressing -  a unanimous hit, and I've made this multiple times.  I have never liked raw kale salad before I tasted this version. But, you HAVE to use lacinato or dinosaur kale--and honey crisp apples. Blog buddy, Lani, gifted me with this favorite holiday salad recipe of hers--found on the Whole Food website.  I, of course,  "enlightened" it.

 

 

 

Your Rosh Hashanah "Brisket" Substitute - Sweet & Spicy Glazed Meatless Loaf - Simply Scrumptious

 

This "feeds-a-crowd traditional brisket substitute" is really Susan Voisin's Meatless Loaf (of Fat-Free Vegan fame), and it's glazed with Ellen Allard's Maple Sauce.     We all enjoyed it last Thanksgiving--but, it will definitely work for Rosh Hashanah or Erev Yom Kippur.  I've also made Ellen's "Meatless Loaf" many times--and it's every bit as delicious as Susan's.   My co-worker, Mary,  had a hankering for meat loaf this weekend, &  just happened to bring Susan's Meatless Loaf leftovers into work yesterday---and trust me on this one--this recipe is a winner. You can use Susan's Mushroom Gravy recipe --or use left-over roasted triple mushroom soup as gravy. Delicious.

 

 

Cathy Fisher's Tu-No Salad for Breaking the Fast - Serve It on Alvarado Sprouted Bagels or Crisp Breads

 

Double the Tu-No Recipe If You're Having a Crowd

 

I'm hosting a Break Fast at my house, and I definitely plan to make a double batch of Cathy Fisher's Tu-No Salad.  I'm thinking of having bagels, sliced tomatoes, and avocado slices to go with it.

If I make something more than 5 times you better believe it's good! My St. Louis kids love Tu-No & even my non-tuna-eating son in DC loves Tu-No--which says a lot!

My gal pals loved it on our "into the woods" get-away. The Lab Rat loves it. And a plant-based pediatrician I know says it's now her favorite "bring-to-work-sandwich". If you haven't tried it, it's high time you did. I use real garlic & add 2 TBS of capers to it--but try it with dill, too. The kelp granules/powder really makes it! The recipe is here: http://www.straightupfood.com/blog/2011/04/15/tu-no-salad-wraps/ 

 

Blueberry Peach Cobbler ala Cathy Fisher  (My Slight Tweaks)

 

A Serving of Blueberry Peach Cobbler

 

The perfect dessert ending for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur--Blueberry Peach Cobbler.  Hmm, I guess you could try this with apples, too!  It's the end of the summer, and the last of the summer fruits.   This is made with neither sugar or fat, yet it's sweet with a just-right crumbly oat crust.   You can find my slightly tweaked version of Cathy Fisher's cobbler here.

So there you have it!  Just a few suggestions for your upcoming holiday meals, with a few of my favorite recipes.  It's always hard to choose.

Whether you're celebrating the New Year now--or in January--may you all have a Happy, Healthy, Sweet New Year.

I would love to hear what you're making for the holidays!

 

Raw Power-Packed Pumpkin Pie Buckwheat Breakfast, Creamy Chipotle Topping, Blueberry Peach Cobbler and This Week's Three Favorite Medical/Diet Links

Raw Pumpkin Pie Buckwheat Breakfast Pudding - Four Hours of Fullness

 

If you received this post via email, click here, for the web version, with the links, photos, & to share a comment.

This month just got even busier.

On Friday, the Lab Rat & I leave for the Farms2Forks Hudson, New York weekend at the Esselstyn Family Farm.  

Can't wait!  I plan to take careful notes, and plenty of pictures.   If you're going to be there, please find me, & say hello!

The next weekend we're headed to Chautauqua, New York for a relaxing weekend at our friends' 1950's lakeside cottage.  We're all long-time college friends (except for 2 johnny-come-lately's--just kidding M & R--from Go Blue U of M) who coincidently are all celebrating their 40th wedding anniversaries this year.  

It's so interesting that my always-present struggle for balance never seems to change.  Check out my Chautauqua visit post two years ago.   I guess I'm just a work in progress.

View from the Chautauqua Cottage

 

And then, on to a "much looked forward to" Labor Day Wedding Weekend in a charming college town. We're staying at the historic haunted inn.  Hope I get to see a ghost.

Lots of celebrating, schmoozing, dancing, and both the rehearsal dinner & wedding reception will have vegan options.  Amazing, huh?  My friends are the best!

 

Before the Recipes - Three Links I Don't Want You to Miss

 

 

The Unmentionable Link Between Belt Size, Belly Fat, and Sexual & Urinary Problems in Men Over 40

 

 

Hey, guys, this one's for you.

Take a careful look at the table--the one above, I mean--and what happens as belt size increases.

As a Man's Belt Size Increases, So Does His Risk of Sexual and Urinary Dysfunction.

After age 40, if your waist size is over 39.37 inches, bad things can start to happen.

Read the Press Release Here

The article was just published in BJU International 110(4):540-545, August 2012,  Lee, RJ et al "Central Obesiity as measured by waist circumference is predictive of severity of lower urinary tract symptoms"  Article abstract here

 

 

"As a man's waistline grows, so can his experience with sexual dysfunction and frequent urination, say researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

'We have to think of the body in a much more holistic way. What we eat can have devastating consequences on more than just our hearts,' Dr. Kaplan says. 'Quality of life issues, such as sexual and voiding health, can be affected as well in drastic ways.'

The study, published in the August issue of the British Journal of Urology International (BJUI), is the first to comprehensively show that obesity in men affects not just their hearts and metabolism, but also their sexual and urinary health."

The GOOD NEWS: Additional findings conducted since this study was completed show that eliminating just 2.5 inches from the belly's circumference may lead to measurable improvement in sexual dysfunction and frequent urination, says Dr. Stephen Kaplan.

 

This really isn't hot-off-the-press news.  Click here & here for the old news.

 

One Skeptical Thirty-Something's Plant-Based Experiment

 

I posted this link on Facebook last week & it received an enthusiastic response.

Just in case you missed it....

My kids know JJ & his wife, so this success story has even more significance for me.

Here's a fit young man (around the age of my kids) who had been on statins (for very good reasons) since his twenties.

Now he's not.  

JJ's wife wrote last week:

"My husband has been plant-based (dietary vegan) for a year.

It started as an experiment to see whether eating this way would have a positive impact on his cholesterol.  He thought he could improve his lipids by increasing his running.  That strategy didn't work. 

He blogged about his experience today and I thought you might be interested in reading his story.

As a side-note, it has been eye opening for us to see how becoming plant-based has changed our view of the world in a positive way. We think more about our animals, our environment and our future. All great side effects that pharmaceuticals could never offer."

Don't miss JJ's brief, but motivating post here.

 

 

Dr. Gabe Mirkin Talks Type-2 DIabetes

So, What About about Type-2 Diabetics Who are Thin?

I'm a big fan of Dr. Gabe Mirkin's.  His weekly newletter is a must-read.   Mirkin has a wonderful way of making medical research & concepts easy to understand.

 

This week he did an excellent job of explaining  a very curious study published last week in JAMA that counter-intuitively found patients who were of normal weight at the time of their type-2 diabetes diagnosis (about 12% of those diagnosed) were at a greater risk of mortality, than those who were overweight or obese at time of diagnosis.  Hmm.  Curious, right?

Obesity Does Not Protect Diabetics

(From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's August 12, 2012 Newsletter)

"This week, a study showed that people who have normal weight at the time of their diagnosis of diabetes are twice as likely to die over the next 10 to 30 years as those who are overweight at the time of diagnosis (Journal of the American Medical Association. August 8, 2012).

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT OBESITY PROTECTS DIABETICS FROM DEATH. It means that if you are thin when you develop diabetes, you have a type of diabetes that is more likely to kill you.

THE MOST COMMON CAUSE OF DIABETES:

• Type II diabetes is most commonly caused by inability of your cells to respond to insulin. When blood sugar levels rise too high, your pancreas releases large amounts of insulin. Insulin then attaches on insulin receptors, special hooks on the outer membranes of cells. Then it drives sugar into cells.
• ANYTHING THAT PREVENTS INSULIN FROM ATTACHING TO ITS RECEPTORS CAN CAUSE DIABETES.
• If insulin cannot attach to its receptors, it cannot drive sugar into cells. This causes blood sugar levels to rise too high, and sugar attaches to the outer membranes of cells. Sugar attached to cell membranes is eventually converted to sorbitol which destroys the cells. This cell destruction is what causes all of the known side effects of diabetes.
• FULL FAT CELLS BLOCK INSULIN RECEPTORS. Fat inside cells prevents insulin from attaching to its receptors, so having extra fat in your body causes diabetes.

STORING FAT PRIMARILY IN YOUR BELLY IS A SIGN OF DIABETES

• Insulin causes fat to be stored in the belly, so almost all people with big bellies and small buttocks have high insulin levels because their cells cannot respond to insulin, and the pancreas responds by producing excessive amounts of insulin.
• Most people who store a lot of fat in their bellies and have small buttocks already have diabetes or are pre-diabetic.

LACK OF MUSCLES CAN CAUSE DIABETES

• Muscles help to prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high and damaging the cells in your body. Resting muscles are inactive and draw no sugar from the bloodstream. On the other hand, contracting muscles actively remove sugar from the bloodstream and don't even need insulin to do this.

WHY ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE FAT WHEN THEY ARE DIAGNOSED EASY TO CURE?

• Virtually all people who are fat when they develop diabetes can cure their diabetes by losing weight.
• When they empty their muscle, liver and fat cells of fat, these cells can once again respond to insulin. Blood sugar levels drop and the person is no longer diabetic.

WHY ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FAT WHEN THEY ARE DIAGNOSED WITH DIABETES MORE DIFFICULT TO CURE?

• More than 90 percent of diabetics are overweight. Thin people who develop diabetes do not have full fat cells.
• They are diabetic because their pancreas does not make enough insulin. We have drugs to make the pancreas put out more insulin, but we do not have drugs to permanently make the pancreas produce normal amounts of insulin.
• Their muscles are so small that they do not remove sugar from the bloodstream adequately.
• Lifting weights would help, but growing large muscles is beyond the motivation of most people with small muscles. It takes a lot of consistent painful resistance exercise to grow larger muscles.
• They may have other hormone abnormalities that are far more difficult to treat.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU ARE DIAGNOSED WITH DIABETES, STORE FAT PRIMARILY IN YOUR BELLY, HAVE A VERY SMALL BUTTOCKS, HAVE A FASTING BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL ABOVE 100, OR HAVE AN HBA1C ABOVE 5.7?

• Immediately try to lose fat by eating less and exercising more
• Start a supervised exercise program and try to exercise every day
• Start a supervised weight lifting program to grow larger muscles
• Avoid all sugared drinks except when you exercise
• Avoid all sugar-added foods
• Avoid red meat (saturated fat from animals blocks insulin receptors)
• Eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits 
• Get your blood levels of hydroxy-vitamin D above 75 nmol/L"

 

Let the Recipes Begin

 

I promised to share these three recent recipes that I love, today, while I have a little free time!

So, dear readers, here you go.

I may not have much time to post anything until after Labor Day, so it's now or never.

 

• Raw Power-Packed Pumpkin Pie Buckwheat Breakfast Pudding.  This one is a no-maple-syrup riff off of "Oh She Glows"  Carrot Cake Buckwheat Porridge, which is fabulous, BTW!   Angela is an amazing recipe developer, & I never would have considering eating raw buckwheat for breakfast if not for her.  Oh She Glows, Rocks!!
• Creamy Chipotle Sauce/Dressing - Two versions.  A cashew more caloric/fat version & a creamy chia low-fat version.  The credit for this one goes to Son #1.  It's his creation.
• No-Sugar No-Fat Blueberry Peach Oat Cobbler.  Just my tiny tweaks to Cathy Fisher's AMAZING Straight Up Food Recipe.  Thank you, Cathy!  

 

 Power-Packed Raw Pumpkin Buckwheat Breakfast Pudding

 

Buckwheat Breakfast Bliss Made in a Blender - Enough for Five Days

 

What Raw Buckwheat Groats Look Like After an Overnight Soaking

 

Looking for a change to your breakfast routine?

Want to expand beyond everyday oatmeal?  

Not that there's anything wrong with oatmeal.

Give raw buckwheat groats a try.

This is so easy to make, loaded with nutrition & taste, and this recipe makes enough to last for five days.

Buckwheat is the highest source of protein in the plant kingdom, with 50% more B-vitamins than wheat. And it's gluten-free.

Did I mention that it's high in lysine--an important "not-so-easy-to-get" amino acid---and it's high in that "hard-to-find" soluble fiber that slows down digestion, which is helpful for keeping blood sugar levels stable.  A plus for diabetics.

It's so satisfying, & I'll vouch for the claim that buckwheat is a slow-release carb. This breakfast keeps me full for four hours.  Really.

Gas-free (unlike steel-cut oats), too!  A definite plus.  Maybe it's because of the soaking.  

What's the big deal about buckwheat?   For starters, it's not really a cereal grain, but a seed, related to rhubarb & sorrel.  It's rich in flavanoids, like the antioxidant, rutin, loads of B Vitamins, sky-high in magnesium, potassium, & phosphorus, & it helps to lower glucose levels.

Read everything you'd ever want to know about buckwheat here and here, in case I missed anything.

As if that's not enough--the pumpkin in this pudding gives you a mega-high dose of beta-carotene, along with chia for an antioxidant & omega-3 booster shot.

Definitely, one delicious, power-packed breakfast.

Just one serving of my pumpkin buckwheat pudding will give you over 180% of your daily requirement for vitamin A, in the form of alpha and beta carotene.  Pumpkin, and other deep orange winter squashes are about as good as it gets in the carotene department.

Need a powerful incentive to load up daily on alpha-carotene?  Check out this article in the November 22, 2010 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, "Serum Alpha-Carotene Concentrations and Risk of Death Among US Adults"

"[O]ur findings, based on data from a large representative sample of US adults, showed that serum alpha-carotene concentrations were inversely associated with the risk of death from all causes, and death from cardiovascular diseases and cancer.  These findings support increasing fruit and vegetable consumption as a means of preventing premature death."

 

For a copy of the recipe on one page, click here.

Servings:  5 one cup servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of raw buckwheat groats  (available from Nuts.com or Bob's Red Mill or your health food store)  Not the same as toasted buckwheat or Kasha   Note: soak overnight in 4 to 5 cups of water, or for 1 hour, minimum.
• 1-1/4 cup of non-dairy milk.  I prefer Eden Extra Plain Soymilk because of its protein, vitamin, & mineral content
• 3 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1 ripe (speckled) banana
• 2-3 pitted dates  (can add 1-2 packets of stevia if you want a sweeter pudding)
• 1-15 ounce can of 100% Pumpkin (like Libby's)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• raisins & toasted walnuts to sprinkle on top of individual servings.

 

Preparation:

1.  Add the raw groats to large bowl, & soak in 4-5 cups of water.  I let them soak overnight, but they need to soak for 1 hour, minimum.  Overnight soaking is easy.

2.  After soaking, rinse well a couple of times to remove the gelatinous coating.  

3.  The original 2 cups of soaked groats expand to 4 cups.  Reserve 1 cup to add back to the final pudding at the end.

4.  Add the rinsed groats, minus the reserved cup, the "milk", the chia, the pumpkin, the banana, the dates, the vanilla, the cinnamon, and the nutmeg to a blender or processor. I use a VitaMix.  Blend well.

5.  Taste, add a little stevia is you want a sweeter taste.

6.  Pour everything into a large bowl, then mix in the reserved cup of whole groats.  This gives it a nice nutty crunchy taste & texture without the calories of nuts.

7.  Garnish 1 cup servings with a few raisins & toasted walnuts.

8.  Refrigerate the leftovers & enjoy 5 days of buckwheat breakfast pudding.

 

The nutriton info is based on a one-cup serving

Check out the protein, fiber, iron, & vitamin A content.  Oh, baby!

Nutrition Facts The Healthy Librarian's Pumpkin Pie Raw Buckwheat Pudding
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	366
Total Fat	5.1g
Saturated Fat	0.3g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	29mg
Carbohydrate	73.9g
Dietary Fiber	13.6g
Sugars	14.8g
Protein	14.7g
Vitamin A 188% Vitamin C 5% Calcium    7% Iron 15%

 

 

"Knock Your Socks Off" Creamy Chipotle Topping - Two Ways - Creamy Cashew or Creamy "Nut-Free" Chia

 

 

 Creamy Chipotle Topping Made with 1/2 Cup of Cashews

Chipotle Topping Face-Off: Creamy Chia Chipotle Topping on the Bottom, Creamy Cashew Chipotle on the Top

 Creamy Chia Chipotle on the Left - Creamy Cashew Chipotle on the Right

 

 The Secret Ingredients to Creamy Chipotle Chia Topping - Blends in a Flash

 

To get the chipotle topping recipes on one page, click here. 

We set up a fabulous taco bar one night during our family beach vacation in July.

Son #1 put me in charge of whipping up a creamy chipotle dressing.  I followed his directions & used his made-up-in-his-head-off-the-cuff recipe.  He makes this a lot in his own home.

Trust me, this topping can make a mediocre dish into a spectacular one.

Use it as a topping for tacos, enchiladas, burgers, or salads.

I brought it into work for a taste test, & everyone went wild over it.  Swooned.  Wanted the recipe.  It's so yummy.

Here's Son #1's very simple recipe: 

Creamy Chipotle Cashew Topping

Serves 8 - 1 tablespoon servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of raw cashews soaked in 1/2 cup of water for at least an hour.  Longer is fine.
• 3-4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 coarsely chopped garlic cloves, less to taste
• 1/2 to 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce.  Sizes vary, so go slowly--you can always add more
• a few grains of coarse sea salt to taste

Preparation:

1.  Soak the raw cashews for at least one hour in 1/2 cup of water

2.  Into a power blender (VitaMix works best) add the cashews AND the soaking water, the garlic, the lime juice, & the chipotle.

3.  Blend well until the cashews are a creamy, silky consistency.  Check for taste.  Add more chipotle, if you like.

4.  Add a few grains of salt to taste.

 

Nutrition Facts for a 1 tablespoon serving

Nutrition Facts The Healthy Librarian's Creamy Chipotle Cashew Topping Serving Size: 1 serving Amount Per Serving Calories 46 Total Fat 3.3g       Saturated Fat 0.8g       Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 18mg Carbohydrate 3.1g       Dietary Fiber 0.4g       Sugars 0.6g Protein 1.3g Vitamin A 1% Vitamin C 4% Calcium    1% Iron 2%

 

Creamy Chipotle Chia (no-nut) Topping

OK.  I know a lot of you don't eat nuts, especially not cashews.

I figured I could come up with a close substitute for the cashew dressing with soymilk & chia.

It's quite good, and very close to the taste of the cashew topping.  It works.  But, I've got to be honest.

If I had to choose between the two, the cashew dressing would take the gold medal in this contest.

BTW, the secret ingredient to the chia topping is a teaspoon of agave.  Turns out, cashews have a natural sweetness that is missing in the chia version.  Agave came to the rescue.

 

Serves 8 - 1 tablespoon servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of Eden Extra Plain Soymilk (richer than other non-dairy milks)
• 3  tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 coarsely chopped garlic cloves, less to taste
• 1/2 to 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce.  Sizes vary, so go slow--you can always add more
• 3 tablespoons of white chia (I like the Salba brand)
• 1 teaspoon of agave (more to taste, if needed)
• a few grains of coarse sea salt

Preparation:

1.  Add all the ingredients into a power blender (I use a VitaMix), adding the chia seed just before you're ready to turn the blender on.

2.  Blend well, until the consistency is smooth & silky.

3.  Taste, & add extra chipotle, salt, or agave to your own taste.

 

Nutrition Facts for a 1 tablespoon serving - Less fat & calories than the cashew version

Nutrition Facts Healthy Librarian's Creamy Chipotle Chia Topping Serving Size: 1 serving Amount Per Serving Calories 26 Total Fat 1g       Saturated Fat 0.1g       Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 7mg Carbohydrate 3.2g       Dietary Fiber 0.8g       Sugars 1.2g Protein 1.2g Vitamin A 2% Vitamin C 4% Calcium    1% Iron 1%

 

 

 

 My Successful Second Try at Straight-Up Foods Cobbler

Blueberry Peach Oatmeal Cobbler

 

 

 

 My Second Attempt at Cathy's Cobbler was a Big Success

 

 Blueberry Peach Cobbler Goes to Work for a Taste Taste and It's a Big Success!

My First Attempt with Oat Flour & Blackberries - Not Bad, But Not Great

 

I love this recipe.

I love Cathy Fisher's Straight Up Foods Blog.

But, my first attempt at the recipe was a disappointment.  Just look at the difference from Try #1 to Try #2.  

What did I do wrong?

Mistake #1:  Well, I took the lazy girl's way out & used oat flour instead of grinding my own in my food processor.  

Big mistake.  The processor grind was coarser, a much better texture for the cobbler.  I also, used a little less of the "home-ground" flour in the topping, & added back in some rolled oats for some more texture.

Mistake #2:  I should have used the date soaking water, instead of plain water in the "fruit sauce".  It made it sweeter.

Mistake #3:  Now this one's personal preference, but I now know that I'm not a fan of allspice in cobblers. I'm more of a cinnamon & nutmeg girl!

Mistake #4:  The blackberries around here are sour & not very good-tasting. And they're super expensive! On my second go-round I used sweet frozen blueberries, & I upped the amount of peaches to 2 cups.  I also made darn sure that the peaches were nice & sweet & ripe.

Big difference!!

I brought samples to work for taste-tasting.  Gotta check it out with the experts, first.  The reviews were excellent. 

"Does this really not have any sugar or butter in it?  It tastes just like the one I make with butter & sugar."

"Not too sweet--just right."

They gobbled everything up & returned the empty container to me.

This is an awesome template for any fruit cobbler.  Apple, Cherry, Blueberry or Plum.  Thank you, Cathy!

 

This is adapted from Cathy Fisher's original recipe:

 

Blueberry Peach Oat Cobbler

Serves  8

For a copy of the recipe on one page, click here.

Cook's Notes:  Read through the entire recipe before getting started!  It seems kind of fussy, but, it's really  very easy.  It helps to read it through, first.  And it's even easier the second time around.

 

Fruit Ingredients:

2 cups of pitted & sliced ripe, sweet, fresh peaches  (could be 2-4 peaches depending upon the size)

2 cups of sweet blueberries (I used frozen)

 

Fruit sauce ingredients:

3 plump medjool dates, pitted, chopped & soaked in enough water to cover, for about 30 minutes.  Reserve the soaking water when you drain the dates.

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup of reserved date soaking water (Note: you can supplement with the date soaking water from the topping)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 cup of "oat flour" made from processing rolled oats

 

Topping ingredients:

1-1/2 cups of "oat flour" made from processing rolled oats  (NOTE: process about 2 cups of rolled oats in your food processor all at one time--and measure out what you need.  Don't overprocess.  You want it a little coarse. You'll have enough for 1/4 cup for the "fruit sauce" & 1-1/2 cups for the topping)

1/2 large ripe (speckled) banana, sliced

3 plump medjool dates, pitted, chopped, and soaked in water to cover for about 30 minutes.  (NOTE: you can add this reserved "date water", if needed, to make up the 1/2 cup in the "fruit sauce"

1/2 cup of non-dairy milk (I prefer soymilk for cooking--it's richer)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Preparation:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Using 2 different small bowls or cups, soak the 3 dates needed for the "fruit sauce", separately from the 3 dates needed for the topping.   Soak for about 30 minutes.  Drain, but reserve the sweet soaking water.  You'll need 1/2 cup of it for the "fruit sauce"

3.  Place the peaches & blueberries in a big bowl & set aside.

4.  Make your fruit sauce.  Blend the dates, the lemon juice, the 1/2 cup of date soaking water, the cinnamon, & oat flour into a blender & blend until smooth.

5.  Pour the "sauce" into the bowl of fruit & mix well to coat evenly.

6.  Place the saucy fruit into a large pie pan or 9 X 9 inch square pan

7.  Make your topping.  Into a blender, add the banana, drained dates, non-dairy milk & blend until smooth.  

8.  Pour into a medium bowl.  Measure out 1-1/2 cups of the "home-processed" oat flour--& then spoon out about 2 tablespoons of it.  Replace that with 2 tablespoons of rolled oats, for a coarser texture to the topping.  Add the oats to the bowl of wet topping ingredients.  

9.  Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, & vanilla.  Mix with a fork until "the texture is somewhere between dough & batter"--fairly thick.

10.  Spread the topping over the fruit evenly, or in big spoonfuls, with fruit peeking through.  Your choice.

11.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned--and no longer wet.  Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.

 

Happy August!

Enjoy the Summer Why It Lasts

The Healthy Librarian's Plant-Based Vacation Preparation Primer 101 - How a Family of Fifteen (Omnivores & Vegans) Found Vacation Harmony at the Beach

 

Paddle Ball, Anyone?

 

 

February 20, 2012

hi all,

hope everyone is doing well. i think of all of the different things (jobs,kids,life) we're all doing and am amazed of the changes in the past few years.

life certainly goes on and we are certainly a strong group. so, here we are in 2012 and i'd love to get together w/everyone this year.

I'd like to get some feedback from all of you as to when would be the best time (personally, december is out)...summer comes to mind as does north carolina .

we really have time to put something together so let's get some ideas of where & when...you know we'll have lots of laughs, a few tears,good food & i'm sure a few beers, bottles of wine and who knows what else.

can't wait to hear from you-SOON!

love,

El (aka. kid,mom,mima,lis,aunt El,favorite sister-in-law)

Email My Sister-in-Law Sent out in February, 2012 to Our Gang of 15

 

 

A July Beach Vacation - By Popular Demand

 

If you received this post via email, click here  to get to the web-version with all the photos, links, & to share your own plant-based vacation travel tips.

Where did everyone want to rendezvous?

The Beach!

The Beach!

The Beach! 

Everyone responded.  Multiple emails & phone calls later we settled on the single week--July 21-28th-when everyone could get off of work.  

We settled on the location.  The South Carolina coast.  Affordable.  Family-friendly.  Low-key.  Beautiful beaches.  Gentle surf. Lots & lots of bike, walking, & running paths.  Within driving distance for everyone. Some longer than others.

We found three moderate-costing houses to rent (split the cost), all very near to each other. Two on the same street. Perfect!  

 

So, how did 15 people--ages 9 months to 62,  married & single, no-nesters, empty-nesters, full-nesters, hipsters & oldsters, meat-eaters & vegans, night-owls & early risers, exercisers & slackers, with lots of different interests--find vacation harmony, enjoy amazing gourmet meals & beachtime together & still find plenty of time to do their own thing?

• We rented three separate houses--kind of like "separate" togetherness.
• We didn't try to "do everything" as a group.  We kept our own schedules.  Got to the beach in our own sweet time (or not), when we were ready--happily intersecting with each other.  Easy, breezey, no-hurrying.
• We got together for potluck dinners on most nights--but not every night!  The 20- & 30- somethings had their own dinner together one night.  The 50- & 60- somethings went out to a cool vegan-friendly Rasta restaurant one night.  The single twenty-somethings had some night life.  The full-nesters enjoyed a date night out with "free" baby sitting.
• Every dinner had something for everyone.  About half of us are eating plant-based. The other half love their meat & fish.  Viva la difference!
• The restaurant-goers of the group, went "out-to-lunch"--it's cheaper, with no long waits.
• Everyone was on their own vacation time. Some of us walked every morning.  Some of us ran. Some of us took long bike rides.  Some of us kayaked & fished.  Some of us played golf. Some of us explored the local shopping scene.  Some of us (like 3) got up at 5:30 am to enjoy a beach sunrise & some beach yoga.  Some of us slept late.  Some of us got up early.  

 

Morning Walks

The Officiant & Best Person.  We Renewed Our Weddeding Vows Under a Chuppah Fashioned from a Sheet Held Up with Golf Clubs 

Circling the Bride & Groom Under the Chuppah--What a Treat to Do It with a Grandee

A Little Yoga on the Beach?

 

 

BTW:  My sister-in-law was 100% right.  We shared a lot of laughs, a few tears, good food, a few beers, & some bottles of wine.  Margaritas & Mojitos, too!

And more:  The Lab Rat & I renewed our wedding vows (after 40+ years); we all danced on the deck to my daughter-in-law's "Perfect Play List", we walked on the beach, boogey-boarded everyday, body-surfed, played bocci & paddle ball, biked, hiked, cooked together, and screened the Lab Rat's AMAZING tear-jerker of a video featuring over 40 years of old 8mm movies & pics of long-forgotten family memories.

Accompanied by the music of our lives: Harry Chapin, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Beatles, Moody Blues, Four Seasons, John Denver, Lovin' Spoonful, Louie Armstrong, Weavers, Simon & Garfunkel, Temptations, Ellis Paul, Frank Sinatra and more.

Unplugged.  Being mostly "unplugged" from my computer for over a week was a revelatory & rejuvenating experience. What a blessing!  OK, I did check my iPhone occasionally (totally addicted0, & we used our phones to "synchronize" our meet-ups.  

But, no emailing. No keeping up with "the latest news".  No writing.  My computer was mostly untouched. The TV was barely watched.  

OK, all "the girls"  climbed into our king-sized bed one night to watch my SIL's neighbor's nephew (got that?) "mustache" wedding on TLC's goofball reality show, "Four Weddings".  And we watched the opening ceremonies of "The Olympics".

And sweet sleep was had by all!  The grandees took their naps like champs & slept straight through the night.  Mostly.  I got an amazing 8-9 hours of straight-through-the-night restful sleep every night. What's up with that?  

 

Plant-Based Vacation Preparation 101

 

Eating plant-based is a huge game-changer when it comes to going on vacation.

Everything's more complicated & time-consuming.  You can't count of fast-food, carry-out or restaurants. But, it really does get easier the longer you do it.  Now it's just something I do.

You have to pack your own road-trip lunches---if you don't want to get stuck eating a Burger King Crispy Chicken Sandwich & Fries---like we did on our first "plant-based" vacation to Martha's Vineyard, back in the Summer of 2008.  OK, we were newbies, back then.

Lesson learned.  This year our road trip lunch cooler was packed with Homemade Match "Chicken"  Burger Sandwiches, peanut butter muffins for Little Man, Green Smoothies, humus, pita bread, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, fruit, Heart Thrives, and McDougall Breakfast Cups for our overnight hotel stay.

Who wants to spend a lot of time on meal prep when you're on vacation?  No one!

And I did not want to spend my vacation in a grocery store & cooking for a crowd.  No way!

 I figured out ahead of time, with the help of Son #1, my sister-in-law, & the Lab Rat, a basic plan of what some of our easiest meals could be. 

• I got a list of vegan-friendly restaurants & the best grocery stores on "the island" from a very helpful HHLL reader who lives there full-time--and we enjoyed a delightful "meet-up" at her home!  More on that, later.
• We came up with a meal plan for the week.  Each "family" would make what they wanted for dinner & we'd share it potluck style.
• Breakfasts & lunches were on our own.
• Each family brought their own favorite staples.  We would shop for fresh produce on the island.  My sister-in-law & niece brought their entire weekly organic produce "shares" to share with all of us.  A huge gift to us all.

Our potluck dinners were fashionably "fusion" & beyond our wildest expectations.  You could NEVER eat this well in a restaurant!

Cooking together makes a huge difference--it turns work into fun.  And cooking with my family is one of life's pleasures.  If we didn't eat until 9:00 pm, it didn't matter.  We were on "island slow time".

The non-cooks in the group pitched in with the hard work of drink-making, shopping, schlepping, clean-up, table setting, & entertaining the kids.   Teamwork at its best!

 

 

My Master Shopping List

 

I shopped for the vacation staples TWO WEEKS before we left.

My grandson was going to be visiting with us the week before we left on vacation--plus, I still had to work that week.   I didn't want to waste a minute of his all-too-short visit traipsing around grocery stores.

I figured my best bet was to bring my own staples from home for the meals we planned on making.  Who knew what I'd find at "the island" grocery stores?  

Besides, once this vacation started--I wanted to spend as little time as necessary at a grocery store!

I brought along only the staples we'd need to make the following meals:

• Pizzas loaded with artichokes, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, & Field Roast or Upton's Italian "Sausage"
• Breakfasts of steel-cut oats (Chocolate Oatmeal--this converts easily from crockpot to stovetop cooking by cutting the liquid down to 2 cups of soymilk & 1 cup of water), Chocolate Chia Breakfast Pudding, rolled oats, Whole Grain Muffins & peanut butter (for the kids)
• Chloe's Artichoke & Spinach Dip
• Vietnamese Ba'hn M'i Salad/Sandwiches
• Spicy Sweet Potato, Corn, Black Bean & Chorizo Lasagna
• Black Bean, Cherry Tomato Guacomole Salad  (just ditch the oil in this recipe)
• Black-Eyed Pea & Sweet Potato Burgers with Buns (ditch the oil, & consider using Taylor's canned sweet potatoes for faster prep) 
• Sicilian-Style Orzo Salad with Chickpeas, Walnuts & Raisins
• Fixings for a taco dinner--Upton's Chorizo & Plain Seitan, Salsa, Beans
• Lunch fixings:  Tu-No salad, smoked tofu sandwiches, humus (Note: Tree of Life Smoked Tofu is not availabe everywhere, but it is fabulous & makes delicious sandwiches)
• Beach snacks. 
• Drinks.  Watermelon Margaritas.  Mojitos.

 

Click here for my Master Shopping & Packing List

 

The Beans:  Eden Brand Garbanzos, Black Beans, TJ's vacuumed-packed Black-Eyed Peas

The Spices & Herbs:  This basic supply included a lot of blends that work for multiple recipes.  Kelp granules, cinnamon; curry; Penzey's Cajun; Barbecue 3000 & 4/S, Greek Seasoning; sea salt; Trader Joe's South Aftican Seasoning Blend; Red Pepper flakes; cumin; vanilla; black pepper; ground fennel seed.

The Condiments:  Kalamata olives, capers, sriracha sauce, jarred roasted red peppers, rice vinegar, pizza sauce, chipotle salsa, nutritional yeast, ketchup, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Olive Tap Lemon White Reserve Balsamic Vinegar (a gift from from SIL), TJ's Fat-Free Balsamic Vinaigrette, TJ's Sesame Soy Giner Vinaigrette. 

The Canned Food--excluding beans:  Taylor's Sweet Potatoes (nothing added),  chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, artichoke hearts, mushrooms

The Staples:  Eden-brand soymilk, 1 box of low-sodium vegetable broth, steel-cut oats, rolled oats, whole wheat orzo, chia seed, raw cashews, raw walnuts, Penzey's Cocoa, raisins, PB2, medjool dates, Starbuck's coffe

The Refrigerated Foods:  3 Sami's Millet Flax Pizza Crusts; Field Roast Italian Sausage; Upton's Plain, Chorizo & Italian Style Seitan, NaSoya Soft Tofu, 4 packages of Tree of Life Smoked Tofu (Regular & Hot n' Spicy); Chipotle & Regular Humus; 1/4 cup of Tahini for burgers; peanut butter for Little Man

The Breads, Buns, & Crackers:  Ezekiel Sprouted Corn Tortillas, Trader Joe's Whole Wheat English Muffins, Ezekiel Sprouted Bread, Alvarado Street Bakery Sprouted Hamburger Buns, Finn Caraway Crisps, Wasa Crackers, Mary's Gone Crackers (regular & caraway),  Pretzel Crisps (Sesame & Everything), plenty of Heart Thrives for emergency meals or snacks.

The Mixed Drink Fixings:  Tequila & Grand Marnier

 

My Must-Have Kitchen Utensils

 

I've been in enough vacation rental condos/houses to know that "you never know how well-equipped" someone else's kitchen is going to be.

If you REALLY have a favorite "must-have" kitchen utensil--just bring your own.  Better safe than sorry.

Here's what I packed:

• My VitaMix--we used it everyday.  Smoothies, salsas, dressings, chia pudding, humus, etc.
• A good spatula for the VitaMix
• One really good sharp knife (oops, forgot about this one!)
• A Zester & my favorite (I use it everyday!) lemon juicer (if you don't have one of these, get one ASAP)
• Measuring spoons & cups--I'm big on measuring ingredients!
• My mini-OXO angled measuring cup--great for measuring small amounts of liquid ingredients--including mixed drinks.
• The recipes I planned on making, & 2 cookbooks--just in case plans changed.  Robin Robertson's Quick-Fix Vegan & Chloe's Kitchen.
• Dobie pads for dishwashing.  My own favorite dish rags for counter clean-up
• Ziploc bags, aluminum foil--so glad I did.
• I really wanted to cart my Cuisinart food processor--but, I had to draw the line.
• Lots of freezer packs
• A couple of my fave plastic containers
• Kleen Canteens
• Coffee filters

 

Turns out, our kitchen was well-equipped with most everything we needed.  We even had a gas grill on the deck.  Figures!

 

Mixed Meals - Something for Everyone

 

DInner Out - Roastfish & Cornbread's Veggie Menu - My Roasted Portobello Sandwich

 Roastfish & Cornbread - The Lab Rat's Ultimate Vegetarian Po' Boy

 Marg & Melon Margarita's  

Chloe's Warm Artichoke & Spinach Dip - My Tofu-Hating Nephew LOVED This One. 

The Barefoot Contessa's Guacamole Salad (just ditch the olive oil--not needed)

My Sister-in-law's Stuffed Roasted Portobellos ala Chef Chloe

Quick Chipotle Sweet Potato Lasagna with Black Beans, Roasted Corn, & Chorizo 

My Sister-in-Law's Roasted Artichokes - First Time for Me

 Master Chef Son #1 Working on His Homemade Salsa

 

My SIster-in-Law's Easy Rice Paper Veggie Roll Bar with Something for Everyone - Vegan or Fish Eater

 

Asian Veggie Roll Ready for Eating - Three Dipping Sauces

 

My Niece & Nephew's Giant Loaded Salad

 

Fresh Grilled Fish for "Fish Tacos"

 

Taco Bar Fixin's - Rice & Beans, Guacamole, Marinated Cabbage, Salsa

 

Homemade Salsa, Homemade Creamy Chipotle "Cashew Lime" Sauce, Homemade Pickled Hot Peppers

 

Asian Veggie Roll, Stuffed Veggie Taco, & Salad

 

"Not Your Carry-Out Pizza" - Roasted Garlic, Fresh Basil, Caramelized Onions, Roasted Red Peppers, Mushrooms, Artichoke Hearts, Sauteed Spinach, Kalamata Olives & Field Roast Italian "Sausage"

"Pizza Joint" Take-Out Pizza for the Meat & Cheese Lovers in the Family

 

 

Tu-No to Feed a Crowd  - Enjoyed by Miss Bean the Nine-Month Old & Omnivore Son #2

 

Better Forget About Restaurants with a Crowd of Fifteen - We Hit the Harborside Picnic Tables for Live Music, a Pre-Dinner Beer & Plenty of Runaround Space for the Kids

 

Ba'hn M'i Salad/Sandwiches with Cabbage, Cucumbers, Carrots, Lime, Hoisin Sauce, Upton's Chorizo & Plain Seitan & a Crusty Baguette

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Onions & Ginger

My Sister-in-Law's Cinnamon Roasted Organic Acorn Squash  

My Nephews' Fresh Catch - Grilled Spotted Seatrout

My Sister-in-Law's Gazpacho with Sami's Millet-Flax Croutons

Your Won't Find This Combo in Any Restaurant:  My Dinner Plate - Ba'han M'i, Gazpacho, Roasted Acorn Squash, & Swiss Chard

 

Lots of Spicy Black-Eyed Pea & Sweet Potato Burgers

Roasted Red-Skin Potatoes with Garlic, Onions, & Penzey's Cajun & 4S Seasoning

Burgers & Fries Topped with Guacamole & Creamy Chipotle Dressing

 

Breakfast at My Sister-in-Law's - Banana-Blueberry Oat Breakfast Bake & Fresh Fruit

 

Vacation Harmony?  I Think We Pulled It Off.  I'm Game for the Sequel!

 

Please forgive my family photo-sharing indulgences!  Thanks for your patience!  I totally understand, how annoying this must be.  

 

Now--please share where you went this summer, and your own tips for helping to make plant-based vacation travel as easy as possible!

This is a work in progress for all of us.

Welcome Home Carrot Cake & Feta Cheese! "Too Good to Believe These are No-Fat No-Sugar Vegan" Carrot Cake Muffins & "You Could Have Fooled Me Feta"

 

Cathy Fisher's "Too Good to Believe These are No-Fat Vegan"  Carrot Cake Muffins

 

"You Could Have Fooled Me" Feta "Cheese" from Catherine Dorrell

 

I had the world's best recipe for Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.   Silly naive me thought it was a healthy dessert.  What can I say?

At least a cup of oil, a cup or two of sugar, a stick of butter, 1 box of confectioner's sugar and 8 ounces of cream cheese.

I made it for every special occasion.  The frosting was at least 1/2 inch thick.  I'd eat it for breakfast.

Not sure where I got the recipe--but I'm guessing it came from my sister--the master baker.

And then there's feta cheese.

I really had no problem giving up cheese, but, feta was different.  It's not very fatty, and its salty piquant flavor added just the right zing of flavor to so many Mediterranean dishes.

Welcome Back Carrot Cake & Feta Cheese!

I hadn't realized how much your were missed.

 

Let's Start with the Carrot Cake Muffins

 

On Monday I discovered Cathy Fisher's Straight Up Food blog & I couldn't wait to try her Carrot Cake Donuts.

On Wednesday my husband decided to give the recipe a try--but make them as muffins.  The Lab Rat LOVES muffins & for some reason, he likes making them.

He planned to try Cathy's "cream cheese" frosting, too, but when he couldn't find any raw cashews at the grocery store he gave up that plan.

Let me tell you--these muffins absolutely DID NOT NEED frosting.

They taste exactly how I remember carrot cake tastes.  Fantastic.  I brought some samples to work yesterday & they were an "out-of-the-ball-park-hit"!   Everyone asked for the recipe.  That's a clue.

Knowing I was going to post Cathy's recipe today I decided to give the frosting a try. I was sure it was going to be amazing.  On the way home from work I picked up the raw cashews I needed for the recipe & went to work making it last night.

The frosting looked great--but, sadly or happily (depending on how you look at it), it did not do a single thing for these muffins.  The Lab Rat downright hated the taste of the frosting.  We think it was the lemon juice that the recipe called for.  I could tinker with it, but why?  Who needs the extra cashews or dates?

 

"Better Skip the Frosting"  Carrot Cake Muffin

 

I recommend you double this recipe which makes only 12 muffins.

Use silicone muffin cups--the muffins will slip right out.  Couldn't be easier.

 

Recipe adapted from Cathy Fisher's Straight Up Food blog

For recipe on one page, click here

 

Ingredients:

5 plump medjool dates, pitted & chopped

1/4 cup golden raisins (yes, golden)

1/2 cup warm water

1 3/4 cup rolled oats (process into flour--it's healthier this way)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 of a ripe banana, diced

1 cup non-dairy milk (soymilk, rice milk, almond milk)

1 1/2 cups of grated carrots  Note: 5/12 I omitted the word "cups"

Fold into the mixed batter:

1/2 cup additional golden raisins

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

 

Preparation:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees--rack in center position

2.  Combine the dates, 1/4 cup of raisins & 1/2 cup of water in a small bowl to soak for at least 15 minutes, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

3.  Process the rolled oats in a food processor until it resembles flour.  If you don't have a food processor, substitute oat flour, but you might need to use less.  Batter will somewhere between a cake batter & a cookie batter, if that helps.

4.  In a large bowl, mix oat flour with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves.

5.  Transfer soaked dates, raisins & water into a high-speed blender & blend until smooth.  Add the 1/2 banana & non-dairy milk to the blender & blend until it's all smooth.

6.  Add this wet mixture to the dry ingredients & gently fold together with a big wooden spoon.  Agan, batter will somewhere between a cake batter & a cookie batter, if that helps.

7.  Fold in the grated carrots, raisins and walnuts.

8.  Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups or tins (use papers if you don't have silicone cups) & bake for about 20 minutes.  You'll know it's done when you can lightly press on a muffin & it bounces back a bit.  They'll continue to set up as they cool.

Hope you make a double-batch!   Next time we'll make enough batter for 24 muffins.  Our dozen were gone in 2 days.

 

 

This Feta Could Have Fooled Me!  Maybe I'm Just Easy to Fool

 

The Lab Rat's First Harvest Just-Picked Baby Bok Choy with Kalamata Olives, Roasted Red Peppers, Herbed "Feta" & a Squeeze of Lemon

 

Hello, Greek salads!  Salad greens, kalamata olives, capers, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta & this creamy Greek salad dressing

Hello, feta sprinkled on top of my favorite Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Hello, my favorite Bulgur, Swiss Chard, Chick Peas & Feta Casserole from Martha Rose Shulman

Hello making new recipes with the flavors of lemon, spinach & feta

Hello spinach feta pizzas

 

This simple recipe comes from the June 2012 issue of VegNews.

Recipe adapted from Catherine Dorell's Herbed Feta.

 

"These salty cubes of mock feta are a great substitute for the traditional cheese found in Mediterranean recipes. The longer they sit in the brine, the tastier they become."   Catherine Dorrell

For recipe on one page click here 

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 16 ounce package of extra-firm tofu, ct into 1/2-inch cubes.  I used NaSoya's new sprouted extra-firm tofu.

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice  (you could add more)

1 tablespoon of salt

2 tablepoons of fresh basil (or 2 tsp. of dried basil)

2 teaspoons of dried oregano

(Options to consider:  a few red pepper flakes, some capers, maybe some dill weed or seeds)

 

Preparation:

In a large saucepan over low heat, combine all ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.  Set aside to cool & then refrigerate overnight.  When ready to use, drain the amount of feta you are going to use.  Leave the remainder in a sealed container with the brine.  Should keep for 3-5 days becaused it's immersed in briny liquid.

 

If you try these recipes, let me know how they work out for you!

Centenarian Strategies: How to Stay Happy, Healthy, Fit, & Sharp Until You're 100

 

My Dad Would Have Been 100 If He Were Alive Today

Reading the New York Times with coffee - I'm 15 months old & it's 1951 - and at 62 I still start every day this way!

 

 

If you received this post via email click here to get to the web version with all the links & to leave a comment.

Next month I'll be presenting a talk at the Utah Library Association's 100th Anniversary Meeting in Salt Lake City.  My first visit to Utah and I can't wait.

And what better subject to speak on for a 100th anniversary than, "Centenarian Strategies: How to Stay Happy, Healthy, Fit, & Sharp Until You're 100"!

Right now I'm hard at work putting together my talk--which turns out to be the Best of the Best of this  "Medical Librarian's Adventures in Evidenced-Based Living".

Since January 2008 I've been reading and analyzing the medical research on wellness, nutrition, & exercise-- and then trying out the reasonable strategies on myself--and my husband, who's affectionately known as "The Lab Rat".   Yoga & prunes for bone health.  Chia for omega-3s.  Interval training, chocolate hummus, higher vitamin d,  adding b-12,  using a neti pot with Alkalol & saline, talking to strangers, oatmeal with turmeric & spinach....

 We've come a long way baby!  And I know a lot of you readers have come along for the ride.  As for me, my life has changed plenty since January 17, 2008--and at the start of this project I thought I was pretty healthy already.  Wrong!

 

Little did I know back then, that by 2012:

• I would be enthusiastically embracing a plant-based no-oil diet.  Never in a million years would I have guessed that one.
• I would become an avid plant-based recipe creator & tester--whose husband miraculously discovered he liked to cook.  My husband, a really good cook?  Never would have believed it.
• I'd be regularly spinning, lifting weights, building more muscle than I've ever had, & getting good at yoga--and, I'd even willingly get up at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning to fit in a yoga & a spin class. This one, I might have believed.
• I would have lost 15 pounds, wear a size 4, & not need to be on statins, blood pressure, or bone medications--and I'd even get a health insurance rebate.  Wouldn't have believed it!
• I'd be friends with Dr. Caldwell & Ann Esselstyn, and I'd have the opportunity to hear Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. David Katz, Dr. Colin Campbell, Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Ed Hallowell and so many others, speak in person on health issues. 
• Many of my friends, family, relatives, & co-workers would be interested in following or at least exploring a plant-based no-oil diet--to varying degrees.  
• I'd still be blogging--and would have started a facebook page in early 2012, enjoying & sharing the "evidence-based healthy living"  ride with thousands of regular readers in almost 200 countries--and getting to know interesting, smart, & engaging people from all over the world--including many physicians.

Yikes, with over 500 posts written, and so much to share, I'm having a hard time cutting to the chase, getting to the nitty gritty--and deciding what to include--and what to leave out in this upcoming talk.

 

 

The plan was to touch on these key strategies, as well as share my own evidence-based experiences.

1. How a plant-based, no-added oil diet can prevent & reverse heart disease, and reduce your risk of dementia, strokes, diabetes, & some cancers.
2. How three different types of exercise can help protect you from dementia, bone loss, osteoarthritis, diabetes, & heart disease.
3. Beyond the body:  Why we need to stretch our brains beyond our comfort zone, make time for friends, fun, sleep, down time, relaxation--& invest our resources in experiences--not things.

 

I Need Your Help!

 

Many of you have been following along with me for anywhere from 4 years to a few weeks.

• What have you learned that's changed your health the most?   Or what's changed your mind?   Or what's changed how you feel, shop, eat, cook, spend your free time, or exercise?
• I'd really appreciate your suggestions about covering the topics that an audience will find the most helpful, the most engaging, the most health-changing, and above all--the least boring.
• What would YOU want to hear me talk about?
• Feel free to comment here (& scroll to the end of the post until you see the comment box) or via [email protected]

Please, give me feedback!  It will be so helpful!  And I'll be so grateful!  Really!

 

 

I'm Taking a Good Look at My 2011 Report Card & My Fifteen Month Plant-Based Diet Update--And You Can, Too

 

 

If you missed my most recent "Report Card" from August 23, 2011, here it is:

Fifteen Months Into the Esselstyn-Style Plant-Based No-Oil Way of Eating - The Healthy Librarian Spills the Beans - And It's All Good! Can't Wait to Compare Notes with Bill Clinton on Saturday

 

I'll probably have less time to post while I put this "Centenarian baby to bed"--but, I'll still try to post "what's new" in health care via Facebook.  And with this gynormous post, you'll definitely have plenty of reading material for weeks to come.

And speaking of what's new....

If you're not a facebook visitor, here's what you missed in yesterday's news.  Pretty interesting!

Happy Healthy Long Life - The Healthy Librarian

Here's it is! After analyzing the data from over 120,000 health professionals for over 26 years, the verdict is in:

Meat's not so good for your health. And it's just as bad for the environment.

“When you have these numbers in front of you, it’s pretty staggering,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Frank B. Hu, a professor of medicine at Harvard. 

This is the first large-scale prospective longitudinal study showing that consumption of both processed and unprocessed red meat is associated with an increased risk of premature mortality from all causes as well as from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

An earlier study linked meat consumption to diabetes.

This "hot-off-the-press" study was accompanied by Dr. Dean Ornish's more readable editorial. If you must have meat--the authors advise sticking to less than half a serving a day. Paleo fans, take note!  You just might want to consider a diet re-do.

Even HeartWire billed the story as "The Carnivore's Dilemma" with an interesting lead:

"Long-term data from two large studies might have more people considering a switch to vegetarianism, with investigators reporting results showing that processed and unprocessed meat consumption is associated with a significantly increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as increased risk of death from cancer."

Find the full article, here: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/archinternmed.2011.2287?etoc

Here's the editorial:  Arch Intern Med -- Holy Cow! What's Good For You Is Good For Our Planet: Comment on "Red Meat Consumption and Mortality.

 

 

The Report Card on the Healthy Librarian's 2010 Simple Strategies for Staying Healthy and Happy - What's Working, What's Not, What's New for 2011? 

 originally posted February 5, 2011

December 31, 2010--Ending the Year Right--With Good Friends, Good Food, Good Music & Dancing

 

 

Last year on my 60th birthday, perhaps naively, I sat down to figure out if there was anything I could do to increase my odds for a healthy happy rest of my life.  My parents hadn't fared so well after they hit 60.

 

"Judging by my parents--that last quarter of life doesn't look so promising.  Which is exactly why I've been paying attention to exercise and eating right since I turned 30. 

That's when my dad had one of those massive debilitating strokes that left him unable to communicate, unable to read or fully understand speech, and eventually unable to walk or do anything.  He was 69 at the time--just when he was getting ready to kick back a little, work a little less, travel, and just enjoy life.  He spent 16 years living in this kind of post-stroke-limbo-state, spiraling downward.

My mom was 62 at the time, and my dad's stroke changed her life in an instant.  One minute she was planning all the trips they'd finally have a chance to take--and enjoying their new role as grandparents--and in the next she was jockeying the world of wheelchairs and therapists.

With the stress of full-time care-giving, and years of no exercise or attention to diet, by 72 she had developed severe coronary artery blockages, hypertension, kidney stones, osteoporosis and painful spinal fractures.  Then came the mini-strokes that finally added up to vascular dementia in her eighties."

 

So, on January 1, 2010 I wrote one of my favorite posts,  It's the Start of the New Year, the Start of the New Decade, and the Start of My Sixties. Some Simple Strategies for Staying Healthy and Happy. At Least I Can Hope!

It outlined the 12 things I planned to do to stay healthy--live long--and die short (hopefully)!   And evidenced-based librarian that I am, most of these strategies are backed by research--and tried out by yours-truly.

So how did I do?  What worked?  What didn't?  And most importantly, what new strategies did I learn about in 2010 that are now part of my daily routine?   

I looked over all of my 2010 posts to see what new strategies I've added to my original Top 12--and I was surprised to see how much I've learned--and how much I've changed this year. 

I'm including the links to my favorite "I'm now doing this daily" posts for 2010 so I won't have to bore you with the details.   And I'll follow it all up with a repeat of my Start of the New Year, Start of the New Decade, and the Start of My Sixties post--with notes on what worked, what didn't, for me.

 

And a huge thank you to everyone who takes the time out of their busy day to read Happy Healthy Long Life.  If not for all of you, I know I wouldn't take the time to carefully read & summarize research articles, pay as close attention to the details of the recipes I try out, and be so diligent with what I choose to eat. 

And because I really stuck with no-oil plant-based diet, I'm hooked, it's now a habit, cravings are history, and I feel great!   P.S.  I love hearing from all of you!  It makes my efforts all worthwhile!

 

Biggest Changes in 2010?

1.  I've lost 13 pounds since June 21, 2010 (in 7 1/2 months) by adopting Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's "Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease" approach to eating--just by cutting out added oils in my cooking & in the groceries I buy, ditching all nuts (except very small amounts of walnuts), chocolate (not cocoa) & avocados (except for occasional small amounts).  It effortlessly did the job.  I also reduced my body's percentage of fat by 5%.  (Update 2012:  15 pounds & that's enough for me.)

Back in March 2008 I had cut out all animal protein (dairy, meat, fowl, ate fish only rarely) and sugar & desserts (mostly) from my diet--and I used whole grains.  But, I never lost one single pound until I cut out the oil, chocolate, nuts, & avocados, in spite of exercising regularly!   To be fair, I wasn't trying or expecting to lose weight on the Esselstyn diet--I was more interested in the health benefits.  I didn't expect to shed more than 4 or 5 pounds--but I'm thrilled with the results!   Belly fat is gone--and the butt has shrunk!  Don't be fooled that olive oil, chocolate, nuts, & avocados are health foods.  There are far better choices out there--that are far less addictive--and more nutrient-dense.

2. Health Means Money Where I Work.  Thanks to eating Esselstyn Style, I qualifed for hefty health insurance rebates from my hospital employer at the start of 2011.  I got a 9% rebate off of my 2010 premiums, and I locked into the 2009 rates for 2011--another hefty 17% rebate.   Why?  Because my borderline hypertension is now history, and my lipids are now looking great.  My weight is a comfortable 118 pounds for my small 5' 3" frame--and my BMI is 20.9.  No medical conditions.  No prescription meds.  Woo Hoo!  Lower insurance rates!

 

Why This Plan Works--A Picture & a Graph Tell the Story

Here's why I feel full and can eat whenever I'm hungry.   My belly can only hold 400 calories of high-fiber, high-nutrient plant-based food at a time!  It's that simple. 

 

 

This chart makes it clear as day where you're going to find the best nutrient bang for your calorie dollar!

Source:  T. Colin Campbell, PhD.  The China Study.  Dallas:Benbella Books, 2006, pg. 230.

 

The Healthy Librarian's New "Evidence-Based Living" Strategies for 2010

 

The Exercise Changes I Made This Year

• Kicked it up a notch with the aerobics:  This year's research convinced me that at middle-age I needed to "kick it up a notch" when it comes to heart-pumping aerobics.   I've added higher-intensity intervals to my spinning workout and I've noticed a reduced resting heart rate--an increased aerobic capacity and calorie burn. Read more here and here and here
• Yoga to strengthen your bones & improve core strength, balance & flexibility:  When I learned that yoga is one of the best things you can do to strengthen every bone in your body (not to mention the chill-out factor)--I decided to rearrange my work schedule so I could fit in 3 classes a week.   I never enjoyed yoga that much, nor saw any flexibility improvements until I increased the number of times from once a week or less, to 3 times a week.  Now I'm a huge yoga fan. Read more here and here
• Weight-lifting/Strength-training for the brain & bones:  Weight-training was last on my agenda when it came to exercise--but this year's research showed a double-header benefit for  improvements in both the brain & bones  deparment when you weight-train at least 2 times a week.  This was too hard to ignore.  I now "lift" twice a week--and my husband promises to teach me an easy-to-do-at-home kettle bell routine that can be done in just 10 minutes.  Read more here and here and here  (2012 Update:  I now strength train 3 days a week with an ever-changing routine that engages every muscle & is aerobic at the same time.  It involves using the lower & upper body at the same time, varying the weights, the reps, & the speed of the movement.  Plus lots of push-ups, planks, & ab work. It's challenging & fun.)
• My typical weekly routine: Yoga 2 times a week, spinning 4 times a week, weights/strength training  3 times a week.  One or two days off a week. I can get in this many workouts in each week because twice a week I exercise for 2 hours.    (New for 2012: If you keep strength training all your life, you won't lose muscle--click here & here.  And as we age--we need to add flexibility & strength training to our aerobic conditioning.  Click here)

 

This Research Convinced Me to Make These Supplement/Diet Changes in 2010

• Omega-3s Lengthen Telomeres--slowing down biological aging.  Who can resist that?  I'm not as regular as I should be, but I do take both a molecularly-distilled pharmaceutical quality fish oil capsule, along with a plant-based DHA supplement.  Although this study only looked at the benefits from fish oil--2 other studies in 2010 showed that plant-based omega-3s (ALA)--that's the  the kind found in high amounts in flax & chia--and in smaller amounts in berries & greens--work just as well as fish oil.  Read more here   (2012 update: I regularly eat 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of chia a day & a take a DHA algal supplement-125 mg.  High levels of omega-3 are associated with the best brain health, as we age, click here)  Stay tuned for my update on getting enough omega-3s on a plant-based diet!  Very interesting positive news!
• Vitamin D for So Many Reasons--in spite of the Institute of Medicine's October 2010 guidelines I'm sticking to the advice of Dr. Bruce Hollis and Dr. Michael Holick and taking 2000-4000 IUs of vitamin D--but, it's rarely daily--& my doc tracks my vitamin D levels.   Read more about Hollis & vitamin D here.  I'm also following Dr. Angelo Licata's research that found that absorption increased by 50% or more if you take your vitamin D with your heaviest meal of the day.  Read more about Licata's research here  (2012 Update:  With Rainbow Light Sour Lemon Vitamin D gummies I NEVER miss a day of vitamin D!  I stick to 4000 IUs a day--with my doctor's blessing, but it's time to get retested)
• I'm eating the fruits & vegetables with the highest amounts of antioxidants.   Check the ORAC Index or the Fuhrman/Whole Foods ANDI (aggregate nutrient density index) rankings for the foods with the most bang for the buck.  Read more here
• Low-glycemic whole grains--no exceptions (well hardly any exceptions)--Whole grains (like oats, guinoa, grainy/kibbled breads) reduce the dread & dangerous belly fat & prevent insulin-resistance (think type-2 diabetes).  Cool news to me--the way refined high-glycemic carbs can affect our genes:    "But after the high-glycemic carb meal, insulin shot up, and 62 different genes that are linked to the stress response, insulin-signaling and cytokine-mediated immunity were turned on." Read more here
• B-12 Everyday 1000 mcg/a day:  If you're eating plant-based take a B-12 once daily--that's the only way you'll get enough.  Even if you're eating meat--many medical conditions, prescription drugs, as well as just plain aging can impair the absorption of B-12.  This year's research pointed out the need for adequate B-12 for brain health as we age. Read more here and here
• Rethinking calcium requirements & calcium supplements.  I've decreased my calcium supplement to just 1 a day for 315 mg of calcium--and follow Dr. Walter Willett's advice about the total amount I need--just 700 mg/a day compared to the DRI of 1200 mg/a day for the over 50 set.   I eat a lot of greens that provide highly absorbable calcium, and I use calcium-enriched soymilk in my oatmeal every day.  New this year--2 Australian studies found an increase in cardiovascular events with calcium supplements.  Read more here

Dr. Amy Lanou's Slide from her Wellness Forum Lecture Novembr 2010

 

• Nitric Oxide Boosters to Prevent Alzheimers & Dementia--the blood vessels of the brain need adequate nitric oxide to stay healthy--and increased nitric oxide also prevents dread amyloid plaque formation--and guess what increases it?  That's right, lots of greens & exercise.  I can do that!  Read more here  (2012 Update:  The greens have the highest amount of the nitric oxide building blocks--and arugula is NUMERO UNO!)  Which vegetables are highest in nitrates?  Click here to find out.
• Ditch Vegetable Oils & Nuts (walnuts, excluded)--they are the highest sources of inflammatory omega-6s.  A groundbreaking meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Nutrition pulled the plug on the theory that polyunsaturated oils are good for heart.   Nuts, especially peanuts are off-the-charts high in omega-6s, too!  It took years for the polyunsaturated oil study to surface, so despite research to the contrary, I'm still not convinced that eating 2.5 ounces of nuts a day is a wise health move!   I'm staying away--except for walnuts.  Read more here and here  (New for 2012:  Walnuts are the TOP NUT for heart health.  Click here--& scroll half-way down the page & look for: If you're going to eat nuts, stick to walnuts for so many reasons)

 

Brain Booster Changes Based on 2010 Research

• Berries, baby!   The research is nothing but good, good, good for berries & the brain.  In fact, now we know a little bit more about how they do their magic on the brain.  They "activate the brain's natural "housekeeper" mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline."   Like mini-brain-maids these cells clear out brain junk.  I have berries daily in my Green Smoothies, and either on top of my oatmeal, or mixed in plain soy yogurt.   Lower cost organic mixed berries are at BJ's.  Read more here and here.  (New for 2012: Go for the Berries--latest review on the subject will convince you.  Click here)
• Reduced my belly fat.  It's definitely bad for the brain!  Read more here and here  (New for 2012: At 62 my belly fat is mostly history--I credit my diet, & ditching the added oil & sugar)
• Increased my aerobic exercise & cleaned up my diet--the better the cardiac index the less your brain's volume shrinks.   What's good for the heart is unquestionably good for the brain, according to the latest Framingham study and a University of Pittsburgh study that demonstrated sizable increases in brain volume in the seniors who walked the most!  Read more here and here 
• Keep learning new things daily to grow brain cells & connections.  The only way to keep building brain cells & new connections is by continuously engaging in serious, challenging learning for the rest of your life.  It requires effort, and it has to be something that's important and interesting to you!  It requires intense focus.  Dr. Michael Merzenich is the go-to-guy in this arena.  I'm certainly hoping that putting together this blog is doing something for my brain!  Read more here  (New for 2012:  Why it's important to learn new things as we age.  Click here and here)

 

Favorite Wisdom of  2010 - It Works for Me

• Alkalol & saline solution to prevent colds.  I'm talking about neti pot nasal irrigation with 1-2 TBS of Alkalol, a cup of warm water, 1/2 tsp. of salt, & a 1/4 tsp. of baking soda at the first inkling that a cold is brewing.  1/2 cup through each nostril.  Honestly, this works for me.  Haven't had a cold in a year--in spite of close calls.  What's Alkalol?  It's a solution invented in 1896 by a Massachusets pharmacist, that's made with methol, eucalyptus, thymol, camphor, and oils of wintergreen, spearmint, pine, and cinnamon.  Its "an alkaline saline solution specifically formulated to clean and moisturize the nasal passages, dissolve mucus, kill germs and bacteria, and provide natural relief from the symptoms of sinusitis and allergies."   Better than the now FDA-banned Zicam.  It's sold at my hospital pharmacy, CVS, Drug Mart & Walgreens, but you'll probably have to ask the pharmacist for this low-marketing-budget product.   Read more here  (New for 2012: I now use distilled water & the premeasured packets of salt/baking soda sold at the drug store.  I also wash my neti pot with hot water & soap after every use--& regularly sterilize it in the microwave.  Read more here.)
  
• Make time for fun!   Away from computers & technology.  Hey, I got this message directly from my mom, who passed away in 2003!  This is one of my favorite (& weirdest) posts!  Read more here  And here
• Sister power.  They can be the flesh-and-blood kind--or the best-friend kind.  It doesn't matter.  We all need someone with whom we can share our most insignificant day-to-day things with--and who can give us a reality check.  I count my blessings in this department!  I've got two--Beth & Lisa.  Read more here
• We get our greatest happiness from the experiences we share with our friends & family--not from expensive consumer goods.  "We know that the best predictor of human happiness is human relationships and the amount of time that people spend with family and friends."  Spend your time & money wisely.   Dr. Dan Gilbert swears by this research-backed advice.  Click here  for Gilbert and here  and here  and here for my year.
• "When in doubt, do the positive."  This was Jeanne Marie Laskas' mother's favorite saying and a rule I try to live by.  It's a handy one when you're faced with life's big dilemmas.  "Remember?  The positive is the active thing.  Can't decide whether you're qualified for that new job?  Just apply.  Can't decide whether to go on that first blind date after a divorce or sit home in your pajamas?  Go on the date."    Click here for more

 

Life on the Esselstyn Style Diet

In May 2010, when I found out my cholesterol wasn't as outstanding as I had expected, in spite of a mostly plant-based diet, I asked Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn for advice.  He invited me to be a guest at the day-long session he runs once a month at the Cleveland Clinic, along with this wife Ann.

He challenged me to try eating and cooking with no-added-oils for 4 weeks & see how it works out for me.  I attended the class on June 18th, 2010, and started eating Esselstyn-style on June 21st, 2010.   I haven't looked back & now it's just, "how I eat".   I feel wonderful, I've lost weight, I've got lots of energy, I feel mentally sharp, and my digestive system is AMAZING!  Any nagging hip or joint pain I'd had in the past is long gone--not sure if I can credit the elimination of the inflammtory omega-6s with this surprising occurence or not.  (Update 2012:  knock on wood--hip, finger, joint pain--it's history!  Bill Lands, PhD, a pioneer in omega-3 & omega-6 research says that's no surprise at all.  When you lower your omega-6 load by eliminating the foods that are highest in omega-6, like oils & nuts, you have less inflammation)

 

You can read all about the day long session, and my Esselstyn-style cooking adventures in these posts:

Oops! Take It From Me - Half Dietary Measures to Lower Your Cholesterol Will Result in Half Measure Improvements

The Great Kitchen Cholesterol Clean-Up - Parchment Paper, the No-Oil Saute, and Munching on the Top Cholesterol-Cutting Foods

What I Learned From Dr. Caldwell and Ann Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease "School"

Week Two on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's Heart Disease Prevention/Reversal Diet Challenge. The Rules, Tips, and Tricks to Enjoy Plant-Based Oil-Free Eating

Can a Plant-Based No-Added-Fat Diet Survive "Real Life"? My Fourth of July Trial on the Esselstyn Diet - House Guests, Restaurants, Road Trips, and Dinner with Friends. Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves.

Everyone Can Do This! Breakfast & Lunch on the Esselstyn Plant-Based No-Oil Diet Challenge. Fast, Hearty, Healthy and Delicious.

Some Q & A about the Esselstyn Diet Challenge. Why Do It? What about Oil & Fat-Soluble Vitamins? What About Omega-3s? And My Top Recipe Picks of Week Three

Plant-Based Eating Confusion! Omega-3s, Omega-6s, Glycemic Index, ORAC Index and More. A Picture, a Chart, and the ANDI Rankings Help Clear the Confusion.

Final Week on the Esselstyn Plant-Based No-Added Oil Diet Trial. What's Changed? What Have I Learned? Tips and This Week's Favorite Recipes

My Esselstyn Plant-Based Diet Trial Results Are In. Understanding the Numbers and Why No Oil or Nuts Makes Sense. Think Weight Loss, Lowering the Omega-6s, Healthy Arteries, and Energy

More from the Healthy Librarian's Plant-Based Kitchen Lab: The Restaurant Scene, Staying Fueled, PB2 the Nut Butter Substitute, and Chia Fresca for Omega-3s

Wolf Blitzer's Interview with Bill Clinton's Diet Gurus, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish - What the Interview Didn't Have Time to Explain about How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease with a Plant-Based Diet

Painless Calorie Restriction for People Who Love to Eat - Lessons for Health, Longevity, and Disease Prevention from the NIH CALERIE Study

Follow One of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's Patients - Q & A on the First Three Months of a Diet to Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease

My Favorite Healthy Kitchen Pantry Staples: For Quick, Easy & Delicious Plant-Based/Vegan Meals

 

My Top Food Discoveries/Additions for 2010

• Hot Mexican Cocoa, Fruited Steel-Cut Oats (now made with pumpkin! or savory), & Air-popped Popcorn  Read more here.   (2012 UPDATE: Chocolate Oatmeal   Chocolate Hummus & More Treats & Teeccino, a caffeine-free herbal coffee substitute)
• PB2 "Peanut Butter" and Chia "Fresca" Water  Read more here  I top my morning with oatmeal with chia daily!  Go Chia Seed for omega-3s!
• I can easily "Esselstynize" any recipe in my fave cookbook--Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz  Read more here  Just cut out the oil, nuts (or sub smaller amounts of walnuts), vegan margarine, vegan mayo, & vegan cheese.
• Keep vegetables, especially greens & herbs fresh a lot longer with Kinetic Go Green BPA-free storage containers.   These are truly AMAZING!!  Read more here
• Here's a list of my favorite kitchen pantry staples  
• Homemade Raw Chocolate Chia Walnut Energy Bars beat Larabars for their taste & they pack a nutrient wallop!  Read more here
• Spiced Pumpkin Fruited Steel-Cut Oats is my new breakfast fave--brimming with alpha & beta carotenes  Read more here  Top it with a tablespoon of chia seed & you won't be thinking about lunch for hours!
• Sami's Pizza Crusts--whole grain millet & flax, no-oil & delicious.  Order from Sami's Bakery in Florida & receive them in 2 days--it's really not a big deal.  Can't live without these.  Just received an order for 16 to divide among 3 of us.  With delivery it comes to $5.00 per crust--not cheap--but it's fast--whole grain--and feeds my need for pizza.   Read more here
• Appetite for Reduction, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz--my current go-to favorite cookbook.  I could use it everyday.  She's finally cut the fat, calories, eliminated the vegan junk stuff & included nutritional info.  I highly recommend it!  Read more here

 

Best Science-Based Diet Information for 2010

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Losing Weight, Exercise, Stress, and Cardiovascular Risk from an Expert, Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer. The Best Diet, How Much Exercise, the Hormone Stress Connection, the Best Phytonutrients, and the Healthiest Carbs

Dr. Hiromi Shinya, the Physician-Inventor of the Colonoscopic Polypectomy: What He's Learned About Diet and Health From Over 300,000 Colonoscopies

The Healthy Librarian's Holiday Overindulgence Tool Box: Some Abstinence Inspiration, the Exercise Cure, a Holiday Video, a Company-Worthy Recipe, along with Sara Moulton's Favorite Chocolate (coronary) Cookie Recipe

Dr. Michael Roizen's Straight Talk About Chronic Disease - Lifestyle Changes Can Control Them and Bring Health Care Costs Down. Roizen's Thirteen Pearls of Wellness.

 

Finally, the Original Start of My Sixties Simple Strategies for Staying Healthy & Happy

 

January 2, 2010

It's the Start of the New Year, the Start of the New Decade, and the Start of My Sixties. Some Simple Strategies for Staying Healthy and Happy. At Least I Can Hope!

Author Dan Buettner has scoured the Earth — not for the fabled Fountain of Youth — but for the key to a happy old age. He spent five years visiting areas of the world where people tend to live longer, healthier lives, areas he calls "Blue Zones."

Buettner says he has identified four things people can do that can potentially increase life expectancy:

• Create an environment that encourages physical activity
  
• Set up your kitchen in such a way that you're not overeating
  
• Cultivate a sense of purpose 
  
• Surround yourself with the right people.

"These are long-term fixes that have been shown over and over to add not only more years of life, but better years of life."

-NPR story, "Can 'Blue Zones' Help Turn Back the Biological Clock?", June 8, 2008-

If you're reading this through via email, click here to get to the more readable web-version.

 

It's the start of the New Year. 

It's the start of a new decade.

It's the day I turn sixty.

Look, I'm not a big-birthday-celebration-kind-of-person.  They come and go and I don't even think about the years.  But turning 60 is different.  It's the last quarter of life, with no guarantees on what that quarter is going to look like.

Judging by my parents--that last quarter of life doesn't look so promising.  Which is exactly why I've been paying attention to exercise and eating right since I turned 30. 

That's when my dad had one of those massive debilitating strokes that left him unable to communicate, unable to read or fully understand speech, and eventually unable to walk or do anything.  He was 69 at the time--just when he was getting ready to kick back a little, work a little less, travel, and just enjoy life.  He spent 16 years living in this kind of post-stroke-limbo-state, spiraling downward.

My mom was 62 at the time, and my dad's stroke changed her life in an instant.  One minute she was planning all the trips they'd finally have a chance to take--and enjoying their new role as grandparents--and in the next she was jockeying the world of wheelchairs and therapists.

With the stress of full-time care-giving, and years of no exercise or attention to diet, by 72 she had developed severe coronary artery blockages, hypertension, kidney stones, and painful spinal fractures.  Then came the mini-strokes that finally added up to vascular dementia in her eighties.

And unfortunately, this scenario is all too common.  "[M]ost elderly Americans – more than two-thirds of current 65-year-olds, according to a detailed 2005 projection by a team of health policy analysts — at some point will need assistance to cope with daily living, either paid help or unpaid, at home or in a facility."

So, sixty seems kind of scary to me.

Which is exactly why I'm ready for a more "Conscious Aging" plan.  We already have all the evidence we need to stay healthy.  It's not about adding more years to our lives.  It's all about adding more life to our years!

Just a sampling of the evidence.

• The 52 country INTERHEART study was very clear.  There are 9 easy-to-modify risk factors that are associated with 90% of heart disease.  This was a huge study--30,000 people from every inhabited country--and the results were the same for all races, all sexes, all countries.  All 9 of these risk factors are within our control--and would eliminate 90% of heart disease, regardless of one's genetics. 1. Keep lipids (cholesterol & triglycerides) down; 2. Stop smoking; 3. Prevent or control hypertension; 4. Prevent or control diabetes; 5.  Reduce belly fat; 6.  Find ways to control psychological and social stressors; 7. Increase fruit and vegetable consumption; 8.  Moderate alcohol consumption is protective; 9. Get regular physical exercise   Lancet 364:937-952, Sept. 11, 2004.

• The Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study.  "The largest and longest study to date, done as part of the Harvard-based Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, included almost 110,000 men and women whose dietary habits were followed for 14 years.  The higher the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables, the lower the chances of developing cardiovascular disease...[F]or every extra serving of fruits and vegetables that participants added to their diets, their risk of heart disease dropped by 4%." Harvard School of Public Health

• The China Study.  This is Dr. T. Colin Campbell's mammoth 2006 study on the effects of a plant-based diet on health--citing over 750 studies.  The conclusion: People who ate the most-animal-based foods got the most chronic disease.  People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.  According to Campbell, "Good nutrition supported by exercise, clean water, and sunshine is greater than the sum of its parts.  It's a biological symphony.  My introduction to Dr. T. Colin Campbell

• The Longevity Personality.  From the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, April 2009 comes this conclusion: Those who live the longest are more outgoing, more active, more easy-going, more empathetic, and more agreeable than those who live a normal life span. The Blue Zones calls it, "likeability".

Here's My Strategy for Staying Out-of-Trouble After Sixty

Some of these are long-time habits, and they're easy for me to follow.  Some of these I don't do as regularly as I should.  Some of these are new goals.  But this much I do know:  If I don't have a plan, if I don't do these consciously, and if I don't carve out time to make them happen--they won't.

1.  Stick with 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.  The Green Smoothies make it easy.  I get 6 servings in a 27 ounce Klean Kanteen that I divide over breakfast and an afternoon snack.  I calculated the nutritional info on my daily 27 ounce serving that includes, 2 1/2 cups kale, 8 mini-carrots, 1/2 cup pomegranate juice, 1/2 apple, 1/2 orange, 1/2 kiwi, and 3/4 cup frozen black raspberries.  Check out the nutrient content for 27 ounces:

 2012 Update:  My Green Smoothie has grown up since this post.  These days, it's  mostly vegetables--and not very sweet--but loaded with vitamins & minerals.  

The Green Smoothie Controversy - To Smoothie or Not? The Argument for a Greens & Vegetable Heavy Smoothie  1/24/12

Nutrition Facts The Healthy Librarian's Green Smoothie-kale,blackberries,carrots,orange,kiwi,pom juice,apple
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	342
Total Fat	2.2g
Saturated Fat	0.2g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	140mg
Carbohydrate	82.1g
Dietary Fiber	13.8g
Sugars	49.1g
Protein	8.9g
Vitamin A 729% Vitamin C 485% Calcium    35% Iron 28%

 

Then throw in some veggie-based soup, a salad, a veggie-based dinner entree, some fruit for dessert, and I'm good to go. 

This eating plan is the same as the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)--guaranteed to stop hypertension.  The Cache County (Utah) Study on Memory shows it also prevents cognitive decline.   Dr. Amy Lanou and Michael Castleman, authors of Building Bone Vitality claim it will build and strengthen bones--because the 17 nutrients necessary to build strong bones are all found in a diet high in fruits and vegetables.  I'm still sold on eating 7-9+ fruits or veggies a day.  Still drinking that old-stand-by Green Smoothie--but I keep experimenting--using less fruits, more vegetables.

2.  A balanced exercise plan.  It's not just about cardio--there are 4 areas that need attention: Cardio (spinning-my fave), Weight-training, Flexibility & Balance (yoga-my fave), and Core Strength.  No, you can't just walk and think you're in good shape.  I'm super regular with my cardio, and not as regular with the weight training and yoga.  Click here to see what my workout looks like. As for core strength--that's pretty much non-existent.  And when it comes to weight-training, according to Randy Raugh, the Canyon Ranch physical therapist, and author of the excellent Prime for Life--Functional Fitness for Ageless Living--to get the maximum benefits you need to do it for 3 non-consecutive days a week--2 at the minimum.  Unfortunately, I often weight train only 1 day a week.  If you want to build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis, and maintain your muscle strength as you age--weight-bearing exercise for the lower body, and weight-training for the upper body is a must-do!  Yoga, helps with balance, preventing future falls, and building strength.  As for core strength, I'm upping my game with Dr. Stuart McGill's routine, and my birthday-present to myself is the physical therapist-designed Pelvicore exercise ball. 
Upped my exercise efforts this year--it now includes 3 days of yoga (smart move) & 2 days of strength-training (that made a difference).  Yoga also develops core strength with the plank pose & others.  Haven't done much with my Pelvicore exercise ball--but I should.

3.  A plant-based diet with minimal added fat.  I'm nearing the 2 year mark on eating plant-based, so this is the easy part. I've got this down pat. I still use a little olive oil for cooking and in salads, and very occasionally eat some seafood or dairy when eating with friends.  I'm convinced.  If you want to lower your cholesterol, reduce your risk for type-2 diabetes, lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease & stroke, and reduce your belly fat--this is the way to go.  Dr. David J. Jenkins of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto is one of the pre-eminent researchers on the benefits of a plant-based, low-glycemic diet (like beans, nuts, oats,& quinoa) for improving diabetes control, lowering cholesterol, and preventing cardiovascular disease.  Click here for Jenkins research.  And that's not all--keeping your blood sugar stable with low glycemic plant-based foods and exercise will preserve your brain.  Click here.  And as for too much fat--not only is it bad for your belly--it's bad for your brain--so just ditch it Click here.  I Finally ditched the fat starting 6/21/10.  Don't miss it a bit.  The benefits are too numerous to mention!

4. No time urgency.  This is what keeps the Okinawans calm, relaxed, and living longer.  I'm really working on this one--which goes hand-in-hand with flexibility.  Things don't always go as planned--you either go-with-the-flow or get stressed and anxious.  My favorite 2 words, "Oh well."  Life goes better when you stay in the moment, chill, and don't worry about getting there fast.  When our Christmas Day trip to New York City was aborted because of an ice storm, we checked into a hotel at noon, and enjoyed a dinner of cranberry nut mix, Larabars, Cliff Bars, and clementines.  All the restaurants were closed in this Pennsylvanian town.  Oh well.  We had a good time, and made it to New York safe and sound the next day.  I've used this "slow down", "oh well", "why get yourself in a tizzy" self-talk approach throughout the year.  It helps--I could be better--but I'm better than I was!

5. More Dancing, Singing, Laughing, Playing, Schmoozing, and Mahjing.  What's the point of staying healthy without having fun?  That's the reason we work at staying healthy. Cool fact: There's a little organ deep in the ear, called the sacculus--and it gives us a great sense of pleasure and well-being when it's stimulated.  But, it can only be stimulated through singing!  So, bring on the Singstar Karaoke!  Click here.  I say "Yes!"  to fun things to do, trips, visits, outings, meeting new people, and dinners whenever I possibly can--without making myself crazy by overbooking or overcommitting.   I'm almost always glad for it!   Haven't signed up for dancing lessions yet--but it's on my to-do list--and definitely need more Maj-time!!!  OK, gal pals, when's the next game?  Frannie we miss you!

6.  The Supplements.  I'm really bad at regularly taking supplements.  I'm good at counting them out, taking them to work, and bringing them back home with me.  Truth is, there are some supplements worth taking because there's no easy way to get enough of them through diet alone.  Here are my favorites:  Omega-3s (I use Omega-Brite), DHA, (an omega-3 for brain health), Magnesium, Citracal, Vitamin D (I'm up to 3000 IUs), Curcumin (also known as turmeric, the yellow color in curry), and Juvenon (the combo of acetyl l-carnitine & alpha lipoic acid) developed by Dr. Bruce Ames.  Click here to read more about what I take, and what some prominent physicians take.  I'm not an everyday person with supplements, and try hard to get them from real food, but I still take a plant-based DHA, magnesium in am & pm, 1/2 the Citracal I used to take, curcumin occasionally, Juvenon occasionally, vitamin D (2000-4000 IUs), and a daily vitamin B-12 (1000 mcg), and I've added 1/2 of a whole foods multivitamin ("Mega Food Women Over 40 One Daily") twice a day based on Dr. Roizen's recommendation.

7.  Eliminate the time-wasters from my day.  Except for watching "The Middle" or "Glee", TV watching always leaves me bored and unsatisfied.  So, why bother wasting the precious time?  The same goes for my mindless internet cruising, checking in more than necessary with email, the NYT, and other favorite sites.  Enough already!  Except for writing this blog, doing research, or writing/reading emails I'm no longer cruising the internet.  I just don't have that much extra time in the day--with a long commute & everything else.  TV doesn't interest me much--unless it's at the end of the day & I'm too tired of reading.

8.  Maximize my peak energy times of the day.  Over a year ago I blogged about getting in sync with our natural energy ebb and flow throughout the day.  It works--and I intend to start planning my day around them, when possible.  For instance, 9-11 is the peak time for brain work-creativity-and analytical work.  On days when I don't work I would usually use this time for exercise & errands.  Poor use of brain time.  Better to exercise between 3-6.  To read more, click here:  Maximize Your Energy-Match Your Tasks to Your daily Energy Levels.  This really works & I try hard to follow it.   I've changed my work schedule around so I can fit in exercise on workdays--and on days off, I do brain work before anything else--when I can.

9.  Give a gift a day for 29 days a month.  When 36 year old Cami Walker of LA learned she had multiple sclerosis, her spirits flagged.  She was tired, in pain, and had the prospect of a debilitating disease ahead of her.  When a holistic health educator gave her the prescription of giving 29 gifts a day for a month she thought it sounded it crazy.  Nothing big (and that's the point)--something like making a supportive phone call or saving a piece of yummy cake for her husband.  Of course the prescription didn't cure her,  but it had a startling effect of helping her cope with her illness and gave her a more positive outlook on life.  I love this idea.  It's a planned regular way to just think about kindness.  No big acts, just something little-done everyday.  To read more, click here.  Sorry, to say, this hasn't become a regular habit--but I do look for opportunities to do that "little something more" or favors throughout the day.  I know it makes me feel much better--need to make a more conscious effort with this one.

10. Cultivate my garden of friends and family.  Regular phone calls, visits, dinners, outings, and celebrations.  At 60 there's no time to delay any of these.  It's the glue that keeps us together and makes life worth living.  I really try hard to keep this one at the top of my list!  Can't help but think of the extra time I'd have to accomplish this if I ditched writing this blog, though, but read #11!

11.  Once You're Through Learning--You're Through.  This is the philosophy of John Wooden, the 97-year-old retired (he died in June 2010 at 98) UCLA basketball coach.  No doubt about it, learning and sharing what I learn is my purpose in life.  I'm lucky to have a job that gives me access to learning about health and medicine, and a hobby that gives me a chance to share what I learn.  Not a day goes by that I don't work on this one--but it doesn't feel like work to me!  Well, at least most of the time it doesn't feel like work.

12.  Start Eating Less.  OK, I'm ready to shed a few pounds, and I know from past experience that writing down exactly what I eat, and how much I've exercised, really works.  I use something called MyFoodDiary.com and it's set up with all my favorite recipes.  Unfortunately, I haven't used it in quite some time.  The new year is a great time to start!  To read more about this tool, click here.  Well, this strategy  sure played out big-time in 2010!  I'm eating far fewer caleries, shed 13 pounds, but I eat whenever I want.  You all know this story--I won't repeat it!  And yes, I do use MyFoodDiary for my recipes & to keep a check on how balanced my diet is--but not daily or weekly.

For some good reasons to eat less, read:  CALERIE: The NIH Calorie-Restriction Experiment. Lessons for Health, Slowing Down the Aging Process, Longevity, and Disease Prevention 

 And my updated version: Painless Calorie Restriction for People Who Love to Eat - Lessons for Health, Longevity, and Disease Prevention from the NIH CALERIE Study

 

My new goals for 2011: 

1.  Resume a regular meditation practice--so many good reasons to do so, including its positive effect on some 2000 genes: those that control aging, inflammation, & metabolism.  Read more here

2.  Start playing around with the  Dr. Michael Merzenich's Brain Fitness Auditory software that I received for renewing my local NPR affiliate membership.  I'm a huge fan of his work! 

3.  Figure out some way to have more unscheduled do-nothing time:

"La dolcezza di non fare niente!" 

Italian for "The Sweetness of Doing Nothing"

 

Time to end this list.  I've more than maximized my 9-11 brain time and written this post.  It's now time to make my smoothie, do some core exercises, take those supplements, answer birthday phone calls, enjoy a birthday lunch, followed by an evening out with friends who all share the same wedding anniversary--if we can just make it through our foot of snow!

I'd love to hear from anyone who is 60 or over with advice, tips, and wisdom about maximizing life in the sixties, seventies, and more.